The Adventures of Rose Tyler, Time Lady
by TimeLordPrime
Summary: This is a new series following the continuing adventures of Rose Tyler as a Time Lady as set in the universe of my story, War Of The Guardians.
1. Chapter 1

The Adventures of Rose Tyler, Time Lady

CHAPTER 1

Disclaimer: Doctor Who does not belong to me, and I am making no profit off of this.

**This is the beginning of a new series that I am starting starring Rose Tyler in various adventures set in the world of War Of The Guardians. It takes place sometime after War of The Guardians ends, but I will leave any future spoilers for that story out of this series.**

Rose Tyler landed the TARDIS right outside of the theater where a certain music show was getting ready to air on television. She had landed a few hours early so that she would be sure and be in the audience for the show that night.

She was dressed in the outfit that she wore the last time that she came to the 50's. It consisted of a blue denim jacket and a pink skirt with a pink ribbon in her hair. Maybe she would start wearing this outfit all of the time she idly thought. The Doctor always wore the same outfit after all. Then, she shook her head with a grin. Nah! She thought.

The Doctor had told her that he was taking her to see this very show; but, of course, he went off course and wound up in London in 1953 for the Queen's Coronation instead. He never did get her to Barcelona either for that matter.

Now that she was a Time Lady and remembered who she was again though, she was using the TARDIS to make up for all of that. First, she was going to see this missed show.

She wasn't alone either. She had brought her girls with her.

Jenny and Susan came out of the TARDIS. They were both dressed up in similar outfits to Rose's. We could all pass for a 50's girl gang! Rose thought with a chuckle.

"This show is going to have singing on it, mum?" Jenny asked with an uncertain look on her face.

"That's right, Jen. Rock and Roll," Rose said with a grin.

"So, we're coming here to see a certain Rock and Roll themed episode then?" Susan said as she saw that they were outside of a theater.

"Yes, Susan! This is when Rock and Roll is first starting out. I always wanted to see it. Your Grandfather promised to take me here before, but he botched it like usual. Now, I'm finally going to get to see it. I thought that you two would enjoy it. We could make it a family vacation of sorts!" Rose said with a smile.

"This is just a few years off from when Grandfather and I came to London, and I went to Coal Hill School. I miss Ian and Barbara. I wonder if we might could go and see them later," Susan said.

Rose nodded and said, "Of course you can. I'd love to meet them. From what you've told me about them, they sound like they're wonderful people. You were lucky, Susan. None of my teachers were ever interesting in the slightest. They were all dull as dishwater. I never got along with any of them especially when I was human. Oh, the trouble that me and Mickey got into!"

Susan couldn't help but smile at that.

She knew that her Grandmother preferred even now to think of herself as Rose Tyler and to even still act and think like a human. Susan knew that this was who she wanted to be now, and she fully supported this. She just wanted her Grandmother to be happy, and she was.

Jenny looked at Rose, and asked, "Mum, how do you make music with rocks? I've been trying and trying to think how that would work, and I can't come up with anything."

Rose looked at her to see if she was joking, and she could see that she was being completely serious. The young Time Lady had a confused expression on her face.

Rose had to bite back a laugh, because she didn't want to hurt her daughter's feelings.

"They don't use rocks, Jen. That's just what it's called," Rose explained.

"Oh! I'm so dumb!" Jenny said as she slapped herself in the head.

"No, you're not! You just haven't learned much about Earth yet. That's what we're here for. I'm doing this to teach you about where your mum came from," Rose explained.

"I thought that you came from Gallifrey," Jenny said.

"Yeah, originally. This me came from Earth though. I want to share what I love about my adopted world with you, Jen!" Rose said with a smile.

"That sounds good. Let's go and see the rocks roll then," Jenny said with a wide grin.

Rose laughed just a little at that. She couldn't help it. The girl had to be doing that on purpose!

They came to a side entrance as Rose didn't wish to risk drawing unnecessary attention to themselves. Also, she wanted to get in early and not wait in line forever.

She pulled out her sonic screwdriver, which looked like The Doctor's except it glowed with a pink light, as she used it to unlock the door.

"We're in, girls!" Rose said as they went inside the theater and closed the door behind them.

**Next: Rose goes into the theater and discovers that things aren't quite like they should be. **


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

Disclaimer: Doctor Who does not belong to me, and I am making no profit off of this.

Rose, Jenny and Susan made their way into the main seating area of the theater and sat down. They were originally just going to sit there and wait for the show to start, but their plans soon changed quickly. 

As they looked around them, the three Time Ladies noticed that the rest of the people sitting there all looked ahead at the stage with glassy eyes. None of them so much as blinked or even moved. Something was very wrong! Rose thought. She panicked as she feared that she had brought her girls into harm's way.

"What's wrong with them? They're not moving," Jenny asked as she moved her head from side to side looking at the audience.

"They seem to be hypnotized," Susan answered as she studied the person closest to her.

Rose pulled out her sonic screwdriver, and it glowed pink as it scanned a person near her. She looked at the sonic, and it confirmed what she had suspected from the start.

"Someone or something is feeding off of their psychic energy. It has drained them almost completely so that their brains can barely function. They've been turned into mindless zombies. Just like people always said that television would do to its viewers. Blimey! I sound just like him now, don't I? I've got to stop that!" Rose said as she slapped herself lightly in the face.

"Why?" Susan asked her curiously.

"If I start sounding like The Doctor, then that means that he wins. I'm not about to let that happen. I'd never hear the end of it about how strong of an influence that he's been on me and how he's helped me think more clearly. As if I'm not already smart and capable of learning something on my own without his help. No, I can't allow the Doctor to think that he's smarter than me. He's arrogant enough as it is. He's constantly bragging about how brilliant he is," Rose said with a wry grin.

"Why do you always act like you're in a contest with Dad?" Jenny asked.

"I am in a contest with him, Jen. It's a battle of the girls versus the boys. The three of us have to stick together and show him up whenever we can. We can't let him get the upper hand," Rose said with a soft smile.

"I still don't understand," Jenny said confused.

"Don't worry, Jen. I'll soon have you towing the line. I'll corrupt you slowly but surely, and you'll help me in the war against your Dad," Rose grinned.

Jenny still looked confused but said nothing else.

Rose just looked at her with a small smile. She had so much left to teach her!

Susan shook her head. She would never understand this game of one-upmanship that her Grandparents played with each other. She suspected that it was fun for them though. They certainly seemed to enjoy it anyway.

Rose looked thoughtful for a moment as her mind shifted gears. All of this seemed familiar to her.

"This is similar to what happened the last time that I wore this outfit. There was an alien named the Wire that fed off of the mental signals of peoples' brains and turned them into zombies similar to this. She stole peoples' faces too though. I should know because she stole mine until the Doctor freed me. Is this 50's outfit my version of the Doctor's Tuxedo of Doom? Maybe I shouldn't wear it anymore," Rose said.

"She stole your face?" Jenny said with a scared look on her face.

"Don't worry, honey. The Wire is dead. No one's face has been stolen here anyway. No, this is someone similar but different," Rose surmised.

She began to look through the audience, until she saw something that was out of place. There were three people who were still moving at the back: a father, a mother and a little girl!

Rose got up and walked toward them in order to see why they were different. As she grew nearer to them, she felt an alien presence radiating from them.

They had been looking ahead while eating popcorn from buckets in their hands, but now they turned as one to look at her as she approached them.

"Who are you?" She asked them. She knew that they weren't human no matter what they looked like.

The pseudo family laughed as one entity and began to speak in unison as they said, "The Wolf doesn't know us. How funny! We've certainly heard of you, and your Doctor knows us very well indeed. He thought that he killed us once when we did battle against each other on the planet Segonax, but he was wrong. He may have destroyed our physical forms for a time, but we are eternal. We returned after our bodies regrew themselves. No one can stop us forever. Not even the Wolf!"

Rose began to sift through the bond that she shared with the Doctor and stopped when she came to his memories of a planet named Segonax. The Doctor had fought three Elder Gods, a group of powerful beings that had existed before the current universe, named the Gods of Ragnarok there. They had taken control of the leaders of a traveling space circus called the Psychic Circus. They made the circus recruit new performers who would do their acts for the Gods of Ragnarok's amusement. If they failed to amuse them, then they would reduce the performers to ashes. The Doctor did battle against the three of them with a special amulet and sword and broke their hold on the circus by destroying their physical forms that bound them to this reality. The Gods of Ragnarok existed in other realities though so it had only been a matter of time before they returned.

Rose knew that she had her work cut out for her here. The Gods of Ragnarok wanted to use the performers of this show in their games. Then, they would keep recruiting more and more performers via television as this popular show asked for more people to perform on it for the masses. It was the ultimate way to provide themselves with an infinite series of entertainers until the population of this planet had been reduced to zero. The entire human race would die for their amusement!

It seemed that they had turned the audience members into a food source while they waited for the show to begin as she could feel them sucking their mental energies away even now. It was like they were eating the people's energy like they had been eating the popcorn.

They were going to turn this show into their own personal arena. She had to put a stop to it now!

Rose heard footsteps behind her and turned to see Susan and Jenny had joined her. She quickly filled them in on what had been happening telepathically.

"What can we do?" Jenny asked.

"I'll have to use Bad Wolf to stop them," Rose said determined.

Rose began to glow with golden energy as she started to transform into the Bad Wolf.

The Gods of Ragnarok started to laugh, and they too transformed into their true forms that resembled stone statues wearing robes and hoods.

They then began to shoot beams of energy at Rose in unison while she deflected their power back at them.

Just then, another being entered the fight as one of the audience members suddenly stood up and his eyes glowed with energy.

"They are not the only Elder Gods here nor are they the only wolf. Let the wolves of Fenric attack! Now you are playing in my game, Bad Wolf" the possessed man said.

The zombie audience members suddenly got out of their seats and started moving toward them as their mouths grew fangs and their hands grew claws. They had been changed into vampires!

Jenny screamed and Susan stepped in front of her to shield her as the vampires grew closer and closer.

"How can we stop them?" Susan cried out in terror.

Rose had to think quickly as she had not one but four Elder Gods and an army of vampires to take on all at once while also keeping her girls alive at the same time!

Just another day on the job Rose thought to herself sarcastically. When I win here and I will win, I am so going to rub this in the Doctor's face!

Really?! You're still competing with Dad even now?! Jenny said to her mentally as she rolled her eyes.

Rose couldn't help but smile.

Next: Rose Vs. Fenric and the Gods of Ragnarok!


	3. Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3

Disclaimer: Doctor Who does not belong to me, and I am making no profit off of this.

**Extract From The Archives of The Sisterhood of Karn:**

Before the Big Bang that created the current universe, there was another universe. In this universe, there existed such creatures as The Great Old Ones. There also existed two forces, one good and one evil. This previous universe was destroyed by The Key To Time. The Great Old Ones and the two mysterious forces of good and evil all survived the old universe's destruction though and became filled with immense and advanced power by doing so.

During the Dark Times, right after the current universe began, there was a period of chaos where these beings ruled over everything along with other races such as the Nestenes, The Great Vampires, the Carrionites, and the Racnoss.

It was also during this time that Rassilon established the Time Lords of Gallifrey. Rassilon hunted down and destroyed the Great Vampires in the First Great Time War. This was a war so bloody and terrible that the Time Lords established a code of non-interference that they held to until The Last Great Time War with the Daleks. The Carrionites were banished by the Eternals. The Dark Times finally came to an end with the destruction of the Racnoss.

The Great Old Ones survived though and so did the two forces of good and evil. The evil force would eventually take the name of Fenric and become a constant foe of The Doctor, a renegade Time Lord. The good force disappeared from history but is believed to survive. This good force has not appeared since, but there is a prophecy of its return that states that the two will do battle again one day and that one will devour the other.

**The Present Day: **

"You won't beat my girls! Jenny, by herself, could take you all on single handed," Rose said with a confidence that she didn't feel. She was worried sick about Jenny and Susan.

Susan kept standing in front of Jenny to protect her from the approaching vampires and looked at her in surprise when she could see a serene look on the young Time Lady's face. She didn't look worried in the slightest now. Before she had screamed when the people of the audience first changed into vampires, but now she was seemingly fearless!

"Why aren't you afraid?" Susan asked her. Did she have a plan up her sleeve? Susan wondered.

"I don't have any plan if that's what you're wondering. I just know that Mum will stop them. She always wins!" Jenny said with the naivety of youth.

The vampires suddenly stopped in their tracks and snarled at them in anger. It was as if something were holding them back.

Rose suddenly remembered a story that the Doctor had told her once about someone named Fenric. She remembered that his wolves, the vampires, could be held back by faith. Any kind of faith would stop them in their tracks!

"Susan! Jenny! That's how you stop them. You've got to have faith in something. A strong faith in anything will hold them back and keep them from moving," Rose shouted.

Both Susan and Jenny looked at Rose before they started concentrating and instantly all of the vampires howled in pain and fell back from the combined mental force of the two Time Ladys! The vampires were now standing at the opposite corner of the room, as far away as they could from them.

"Very good, Bad Wolf! That doesn't mean that you win though. Now, you face the combined force of Fenric and the Gods of Ragnarok combined. You will not survive this. Soon, you will fall and the universe will belong to us once more," Fenric said.

"I don't think so. I don't know if you've heard; but I once beat the Guardians of Time, all by myself! I'm no pushover, Fenric," Rose said, confident in her own abilities.

"The Guardians are nothing compared to us. We existed before time itself. No one can defeat us forever. We just keep coming back again and again until we win. Our power is inexhaustible, and our patience is infinite. I am the wolf that will devour all at the end of this universe. I shall still be standing at the end of this reality just like I was at the end of the last one," Fenric boasted.

Rose just grinned. She had heard a similar speech before from a different source.

"I met someone called The Beast once who said something similar to me. You know what happened to him? I killed him! Did you hear that, Fenric? I killed the Devil! That was when I was still human. What do you think that I can do now? Do you really believe that you have a shot, mate?" Rose said with a wide and confident patented Rose Tyler smile.

"The Beast's physical form was restrained. We have no such weakness," Fenric simply said.

Then, the four beings opened up on Rose with four simultaneous blasts of energy as they hit her from the front and the back at once. Rose actually started to feel her shields and her strength weakening. Who were they to have such power? Rose thought as she started to experience self-doubt.

She looked at Susan and Jenny to see if they noticed this display of weakness, but so far they didn't. She hoped that they would keep their attention on the vampires and off of her. If their faith in whatever that they believed in wavered even for a moment for any reason, the vampires would attack immediately!

She began to feel herself weaken more and more, and then she heard a voice begin to speak to her.

Let me in and I will protect you! The mysterious voice said in her head.

Who are you? Rose asked in her mind.

A friend. The voice simply replied.

I don't even know you. Why would I entrust you with my life and the lives of my girls? Rose thought back.

I may be closer to you than you realize, Rose Tyler. You think that you do not know me but you and I are old friends. We have known each other for a very, very long time. The voice said in her mind in a cryptic tone.

Rose was confused. She had no idea what this being, whoever they were, was talking about. She just knew that she kept weakening more and more by the moment.

I will show you who I am and then you will let me use you by your own free will! The voice said as its thoughts spoke to her once again.

Images of the past flashed through Rose's mind and she could see that some of them were of her. What connection did she have to this mysterious being? Then, she knew! She knew who this was, and she suddenly knew that she could trust them completely. It was as if she would be doing the job herself.

Do it! Rose thought with no hesitation.

Instantly, Rose's body language and posture changed and a new being was using her body to stand before the Old Ones.

Fenric moved back from this new Rose in fear as did the Gods of Ragnarok.

"Hello, brother!" the newly possessed Rose said to Fenric with a wicked grin.

**Next: Just what is going on? See if you can figure it out and then come back next time as the mysterious entity possessing Rose takes on The Old Ones. **


	4. Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4

Disclaimer: Doctor Who does not belong to me and I am making no profit off of this.

"Hello, Brother!" The possessed Rose said.

"You! I thought that you had died long ago," Fenric said in disbelief.

"Obviously not. This battle has been coming since time began. You have continued your little reign of terror long enough! Now that I'm back, this ends now," The possessed Rose proclaimed.

She then began to attack Fenric with blasts of golden energy, and he ran from her to stand next to The Gods of Ragnarok. The four Elder Gods then launched their attacks on possessed Rose simultaneously, but none of them even touched her.

They bounced harmlessly off of her force field, and she laughed at them.

"You could never beat me before. What makes you think that you can now?" She said.

The four of them actually seemed to cringe and looked at her in terror.

Rose could see all of this from inside of her mind, and she was dumbfounded.

You must be so much more powerful than me! I couldn't even scratch them, but you've got them quaking in their boots Rose thought to the entity in control of her.

I'm using your own power, Rose! The entity laughed as she thought back to her.

What? Why couldn't I do anything to them then? Rose thought in disbelief.

Your mind has been distracted this entire battle with thoughts of worry about Jenny and Susan. Your power was diluted and diminished as a result. Fenric did this to you deliberately of course. He threatened the girls so that you would be too distracted to fight him properly. That's what he does. He finds your weakness and exploits it. He destroys you from within and erodes your self-confidence. You have the power to destroy him all by yourself if you just concentrate on what's in front of you and trust the girls to take care of themselves. You can't be a worried overprotective mother in this line of work, Rose. It will destroy you! The entity thought to her.

Rose understood what she was trying to say. She asked the entity to give her back control and to let her finish this as herself.

The entity complied, and Rose was now back in the driver's seat once again.

Golden energy exploded out of Rose in concentric circles that radiated out from her body like the rings of Saturn. These energy rings moved out as waves of force and pounded into the four Elder Gods like sledgehammers. Rose renewed this attack over and over again until she brought the four to their knees on the floor.

Rose teleported a short distance to stand next to Fenric, and then she plunged her hand into his chest. Seconds later, she pulled a dark, shadowy form out of the body; and the body collapsed onto the floor. Rose was now holding Fenric himself in her hand as the Elder God struggled to release himself from her iron grip.

"This is for threatening my girls!" Rose shouted at the terrified Elder God.

The hand that was holding Fenric began to glow ever more brightly, and then the Elder God began to scream as he burned from within!

Soon, he vanished in a puff of smoke; and there was nothing left of him.

The Gods of Ragnarok looked completely terrified now, and they began to run for the exit.

Rose quickly stopped them though by encasing them in a force field. She then constricted the force field tighter and tighter until the three Elder Gods' stone bodies shattered into a million pieces!

Rose's eyes glowed even brighter for a moment, and then what was left of the Gods of Ragnarok was burned into cinders and vanished.

The vampires instantly turned back into people once again with the destruction of Fenric, and everyone in the theater was now alive and safe. Needless to say, they were all a little bewildered and confused about the whole thing.

Rose knew that she couldn't let them remember any of this, so she wiped it from their minds and put them all to sleep until just before the show.

The entity left Rose's body and moved temporarily into a new host body.

Jenny asked her, "Who are you?"

"I'm the one who turned your mum into the Bad Wolf, I'm afraid. It happened long ago when she looked into the Untempered Schism. I was in the Vortex and sensed the presence of a kindred spirit. Rose was so like me in so many ways that I couldn't resist taking a look at her. Therefore, when Rose looked into the Vortex; I was there looking back at her. Somehow, her being exposed to my energy at the same time as the Vortex triggered an evolutionary change in her and released her full genetic potential. She then became the Bad Wolf. It was entirely by accident. It never meant for it to happen, and I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I ruined your life, Rose!" The entity apologized.

Rose just smiled at her.

"I'm fine now. You don't have to apologize for anything as far as I'm concerned. You've more than made up for it by helping me here today if it makes you feel better," Rose said.

"What is your name though? You never said," Jenny asked her curiously. There was something about her that seemed familiar to the young Time Lady. It was almost as if they had met before.

The entity said with a sly smile, "I haven't had a name since the beginning of time. However, at one time in a different life in another universe I was called Arkytior."

Then the entity left her borrowed body, and it slumped into its seat asleep.

Jenny looked at Rose in shock; and Rose explained, "She must have been the me from the previous universe. I felt like I knew her, and now I know why."

The three of them then sat down and proceeded to wait for the show to begin.

The show was wonderful, and they all enjoyed it immensely. Rose had finally gotten to see history in the making, and she was full of joy. Next time, it's your turn Barcelona Rose thought with a smile.

Once it was over, Jenny turned to Rose and said, "That was great, Mum. There's one thing that I still don't understand though."

"What's that?" Rose asked.

"Where were the rocks? I was really looking forward to seeing how they were used to make music!" Jenny said as she burst out laughing.

Rose just groaned, and then hugged her daughter as she ruffled her hair with one hand.

"You drive me crazy sometimes. You know that? I wouldn't have you any other way though." Rose said with a contented look on her face.

Susan could see the blissful expression on Jenny's face and smiled. Jenny had told her that she was so happy and thankful to have found The Doctor and Rose after having been alone for so long. Jenny loved Rose with all of her heart and was grateful every day that she had her in her life! She couldn't have had a better mum! Susan remembered thinking that she shared those sentiments wholeheartedly as Jenny had said them.

The three of them left the theater and got back into the TARDIS.

"So, anyone fancy a trip to Barcelona?" Rose asked.

"I'd rather go to see Shakespeare," Susan said. She loved the bard's works, and her Grandfather was always going on about her brilliant the man was.

"That lech? He's worse than Jack! He'd be hitting on you every second, Susan. You'd never be able to get in a word edgewise with him about anything. Besides that if he hit on Jenny, I'd have to incinerate him! That would muck up history really good! It's best not to risk it!" Rose said with a smirk.

"How about the French Revolution? Or maybe we could meet Madame de Pompadour? I've always thought that she was fascinating from what I've read about her," Susan suggested.

Rose looked at her with daggers in her eyes. Susan wondered what she had said to make her Grandmother so angry.

"Don't mention that woman's name to me! If I ever see Reinette again, I'm liable to slap her silly! I'm sure that that wouldn't go over too well," Rose said full of anger, but then she began to smile again.

Susan relaxed as she realized that Grandmother wasn't angry at her personally. Obviously Rose had some history with Reinette. Some very bad history from her tone as she spoke about her. She reminded herself never to speak about her again if she wanted to keep her head attached to her body.

Rose seemed to be able to sense her thoughts though and gave her a small hug as if to reassure her that she would never do such a thing.

"Sorry! Bad memories," was all that she said.

"How about we go to the Planet of Chips?" Jenny said with a giggle. Jenny loved chips almost as much as Rose did.

"Planet of Chips?" Susan asked with a frown.

"There's a Planet of Chips?!" Rose asked, looking like she was going to explode with hunger at the mere thought of such a place.

"Yeah! I ran across it on my journeys across space looking for Dad. It's a whole planet dedicated just to making chips! The whole place is just one giant restaurant for chips. It was wonderful. I almost couldn't leave," Jenny said with a fond smile.

"Give me the coordinates, now!" Rose ordered as a ravenous look appeared on her face.

Jenny laughed as she gave her the coordinates. Her mum looked like a hungry lion she thought to herself.

They soon arrived at The Planet of Chips, and they had a day long eating binge that Rose would remember for the rest of her life.

As they left the planet, Jenny said with a thoughtful look on her face, "Do you think that there really is a place where they use rocks to make music?"

Rose looked at her, and she could tell that Jenny was actually wondering about this. She loved that sense of wonder in her.

"I don't know. Maybe someday we'll find out. If there's one thing I've learned is that if you can think of it it's probably around out there somewhere in the universe. You only have to find it," Rose said as she smiled at her.

Susan then said, "How about we go to see Ian and Barbara now?"

Rose thought about it for a moment, and then nodded. She admitted that she wanted to meet these people who had made such an impression on her granddaughter as well. Besides that, if they had helped him in any way to get on with his life after what had happened to her; then she wanted to thank them.

"Ian and Barbara it is, then. I think that we'll go and see them in 2013. The Doctor told me once that they were still young somehow. I'd like to find out some more about how that happened. You don't usually have that kind of thing happening with people. They just sound fascinating on so many levels," Rose said with a grin.

The TARDIS spun off through the Vortex as they made their way to see the Doctor's first companions from long ago.

**Next: Daleks at the University! **


	5. Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5

I do not own Doctor Who and I am making no profit off of this.

The TARDIS landed outside of the house of Ian and Barbara Chesterton; and Rose, Susan, and Jenny got out and went to the front door. Susan knocked twice on the door and took a deep breath. She had wanted to see her two old friends very badly, but now that she was finally here her nerves took over.

Rose noticed this and put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. Rose smiled at her granddaughter, and Susan calmed down a little. Her Grandmother had always been able to make her feel better no matter how bad things were or how upset she was.

Seconds later, a woman came to the door that Rose recognized as Barbara from holograms of her in the Doctor's TARDIS. Rose could now see that it was true that she hadn't aged a day since she had traveled with the Doctor. Rose was dying to find out how that had happened, but she wasn't going to pry. This was Susan's visit not hers after all.

"Susan!" Barbara said with a shocked look on her face.

"Hello, Barbara. I just wanted to drop by and see you. These are my friends, Rose and Jenny," Susan said with a little bit of a scrunched up face that she tried to hide quickly.

Rose had told her not to tell Barbara and Ian who they were in relation to her. She thought that maybe it might be a little strange and overwhelming to the two former companions that youthful looking Rose and Jenny were Susan's grandmother and aunt. Susan had told her that they would probably take it in stride after everything that they had seen in their travels with her and the Doctor. Rose insisted on the two of them just being introduced as her friends though. Susan didn't like it. It was just rude to her not to call Rose Grandmother. It was showing disrespect to call her by her first name. A lifetime of Time Lord tradition ingrained in her from birth made her wince or scrunch up her face every time she did so.

Barbara, not being stupid, noticed this right away; but didn't mention it.

The two old friends began to talk away about the old days onboard the TARDIS, and Rose and Jenny just listened to them in silence. Barbara decided to try and rope them into the conversation. She wanted to know more about these two mysterious friends of Susan's. They both gave off an aura of trust that she had only felt around Susan and The Doctor, and she suspected that the two of them were from the same place that they were.

"How do you two know the Doctor?" Barbara asked them.

She noticed that it was Rose who spoke as Jenny remained silent. She saw a small look exchanged between them that she assumed was Rose telling Jenny to let her handle this. She also noticed something else. The way that Rose looked at the other two women was not the way that you look at a friend. It was the way that you look at your family. Barbara had children and grandchildren of her own, and she knew the look of a mother looking at her children with pride when she saw it.

"We both travel with the Doctor just like you used to. Susan has told us all about you. The two of you made a huge impression on her. She wanted to come and see you, so we thought why not?" Rose said with a wide smile.

Barbara decided that she liked Rose a lot. She decided to let her secrets remain her own, and continued to talk about her old adventures on the TARDIS with the three of them instead of prying into their personal lives any further.

It was then that Ian came in the house having just gotten off of his job teaching science at the university.

Barbara taught at the university as well. She taught several history classes there. Her students found that she had a unique perspective on history that the other teachers just didn't have. It was almost as if she were there. Which, of course, she had been in many cases! Her lectures on the Aztecs were particularly thrilling. The way that she spoke about the human sacrifices with such emotion always took the students by surprise. Teachers like her were definitely one of a kind. They had no idea!

Ian came into the door talking away about his day, and didn't even notice that there were three guests in the room.

"Barbara, you wouldn't believe the strange day that I've had. Some of the other teachers were acting very strangely all day. They didn't act like themselves at all. They just kept yelling at the students, and telling them to operate at maximum efficiency. They also kept saying things like that they were going to weed out the weak and promote the strong. The other teachers all noticed it too, and when some of them asked the others what was going on they were almost attacked! I swear the lot of them acted like animals. There was almost a fight right there. It's just the kind of thing like we used to get wrapped up in when we traveled with –" Ian said.

He had stopped when he saw Susan, Rose, and Jenny sitting there listening to him with rapt attention.

"Susan!" Ian said with a huge smile on his face.

He ran over and hugged Susan, and Rose had to smile softly at that. She liked Ian immediately.

"I'm Rose, and this is Jenny," Rose said as she shook Ian's hand.

"They're friends of Susan's," Barbara explained to Ian. Rose thought that she noticed Barbara looking at her funny when she said that.

Ian began to look at them with alarm on his face.

"Oh, no! Don't tell me that there is something strange going on at the school? It can't be a coincidence that strange things start happening just as you return again, is it? No offense, Susan, but you and your grandfather always did seem to have a way of finding trouble wherever you went," Ian said.

"Noticed that, have you?" Rose asked with a grin.

"I swear that I just came here for a visit that's all, Ian!" Susan said with a look of concern on her face.

"Sometimes the TARDIS has other ideas though. She seems to bring us to trouble spots in time whether we want to go to them or not," Rose said knowingly.

Ian and Barbara both looked at her suspiciously. That sounded like something that the Doctor would have said. Ian got the feeling that this woman, Rose, was a lot more than she seemed to be.

"So the teachers are acting oddly. Do you think that maybe it's just nerves? It is finals time, after all. Maybe they're just under a lot of stress from the administration, and that's why they're acting so strangely," Barbara said hopefully. She didn't really believe it though. Susan was here so there had to be something strange going on.

"I'm sure it's nothing," Susan said, unconvinced.

She just wanted a simple trip to see her old friends, and they were already hip deep into a mystery. Why did the TARDIS have to do this to her?

Ian and Barbara both noticed Rose and Jenny giving Susan comforting looks. Rose in particular seemed to be fighting the urge to reach out to Susan in some way. The husband and wife looked at each other and exchanged a wordless look of communication that told each other that they were both noticing the same things about Rose.

They let the subject of the teachers' odd behavior drop for now and started to talk about the old days on the TARDIS again. Susan was soon back to enjoying her trip down memory lane and was glad to be reunited with her friends. They told her that they had three children and five grandchildren, and she just looked at them in amazement. It was hard for her to believe, but she knew that it was true because it had been about fifty years for them since they had last traveled with her. She was dying to ask them why they hadn't aged, but she didn't broach the subject. It wasn't any of her business.

Jenny, however, had no such compunctions.

"If you traveled with Susan about fifty years ago, why do you still look so young?" the young Time Lady asked with unbridled curiosity.

Rose and Susan both stared at her for a moment while Barbara and Ian laughed.

"What?" Jenny asked innocently.

"It's okay. I'll tell you what I know about it, which is nothing. Neither of us knows why we haven't aged. We assume that it has something to do with our travels with the Doctor. Maybe it was something that we were exposed to on one of our trips," Barbara said with a shrug.

Rose looked at them curiously. Sarah Jane had still aged so she didn't know about that theory. She would love to find out what had happened to them, but she wouldn't pursue it any further unless she was asked to do so by Ian and Barbara. They probably wouldn't do that though since they had no idea who she was. Or did they? She had noticed both of them looking at her strangely and wondered if they had figured some of it out on their own already. Susan had told her that they were both incredibly smart so maybe they had.

Ian suddenly had a nostalgic look on his face and asked them, "Could we see the TARDIS? I would love to get a look at that magnificent old ship one more time."

Susan looked at Rose for a half second in a barely noticeable way, and then she nodded at Ian. Ian noticed how Susan had looked to Rose, as if for permission.

"Of course," Susan said with a cheerful grin.

The five of them went outside and traveled behind the house where Rose had landed the TARDIS. They all got inside, and Ian and Barbara looked at the inside of it with astonishment.

"It's certainly changed a lot since the last time that we were here. The console room is so huge now. It used to be much smaller back in our day," Barbara said in amazement.

"Well, from what the Doctor told me the TARDIS had to rebuild herself completely after he crashed landed her. That man's always up to something!" Rose said with a fond smile.

Again, Ian and Barbara exchanged looks at Rose's behavior.

"I can believe it. He was always getting into a lot of trouble when we traveled with him too. I've never seen anyone who was a bigger magnet for finding trouble than he was," Barbara said with a grin.

Rose couldn't help but laugh at that. Truer words had never been spoken! she thought.

Suddenly, a sensor on the TARDIS began to beep; and Rose went over to it to check it.

"What is it?" Susan asked her, concerned.

"Give me a break!" Rose said as she slapped her forehead.

"What's going on?" Jenny asked.

"Daleks! The TARDIS is detecting Dalek transmissions coming from the university. I can't believe this. I'm getting to be just as bad as he is. I just go to take Susan for a chance to catch up with some old friends, and I run smack dab into a bunch of stupid Daleks!" Rose said in disgust.

Ian and Barbara exchanged looks of surprise. Daleks! They both thought together in alarm. Neither of them had fond memories of those pepper pots.

"It's okay, Gr-" Susan started to say and then stopped herself.

"It'll be okay, Rose. We'll beat them. We'll sort them out and be back in time for a late night supper with Ian and Barbara," Susan with a grin.

Ian and Barbara smiled at this. They had to love Susan's enthusiasm and optimism.

"I have no doubt of that. I just hate that it had to ruin your day, that's all," Rose said with a sad look on her face.

"It just wouldn't be a trip in the TARDIS without some world ending threat to stop though, would it?" Susan said with a grin.

"Yeah! That's true," Rose said as her face turned into a huge grin.

"Yay! We get to go Dalek hunting!" Jenny said with unbridled enthusiasm.

Ian and Barbara just exchanged a look with each other. They had never thought of tangling with the Daleks as being fun in any way, shape, or form.

"Yes, we are all just a slight bit mad, my friends. Only mad people would do what we're about to do. Let's go find us some Daleks," Rose said with an ever widening grin on her face as she looked at Ian and Barbara's confused expressions.

She couldn't help it. She just loved days like this. Daleks at the university! It didn't get any better than that!

**Next: You may have had some mean teachers in your life, but at least they weren't Daleks! Rose and company infiltrate the school and discover a Dalek conspiracy that threatens the lives of all of the students there.**


	6. Chapter 6

CHAPTER 6

I don't own Doctor Who and I am not making any profit off of this.

Rose gave herself an appraising look in the mirror. She had put on a business suit and did her hair up in a bun. She even put on some brainy specs to finish the older, smarter, more mature look that she wanted to give off. She thought that it had worked extremely well. She looked just like one of the stuffed shirts that she had always seen working in school administration.

She went into the console room and asked, "Well? What do you think?"

"It makes you look old!" Jenny said with a distasteful look on her face. She preferred the way her mum usually looked. She didn't look as pretty as she usually did, but you could still see the beauty shining though quite clearly.

"That's the idea, Jen! Nobody's going to take me seriously in administration with the way I usually look. I look too young," Rose said with a sigh.

Susan couldn't help but be amused at her grandmother's new look. This was just the complete antithesis to the Rose or even the Arkytior that she knew.

"Who would have thought Rose Tyler would ever look so respectable looking?" Susan said with a giggle.

Rose responded by sticking her tongue out at her.

"I'll show you respectable!" She said with a snicker.

Susan just kept giggling at the absurdity of the whole situation while Barbara began to have a thoughtful look on her face. The name Rose Tyler had triggered a memory for her.

"Are you the same Rose Tyler who set fire to her high school's lab and almost burned the school down?" Barbara suddenly asked as it finally hit her where she had heard the name before.

Rose's face turned red, and she began to choke with embarrassment.

"Oi! Nothing was ever proven! It was an accident anyway. I was just doing an experiment in the lab, and it went wrong. I didn't have the knowledge of chemistry then that I have now. Am I ever going to live that down? How did you know about it anyway?" Rose said indignantly.

Barbara laughed a little and gave Rose a soft smile. She wanted to show Rose that what she had done didn't really bother her.

"You've become a bit of a legend in academic circles. You set a new standard for trouble making. I've heard that certain teachers still cringe when they hear your name," Barbara said with a snicker.

"Some things never change apparently," Susan said.

Rose's face turned even redder.

"I'm much more mature and responsible now I assure you!" She sputtered out.

Susan's eyes turned up and even Jenny looked at her with a skeptical expression, but neither of them said anything.

"Traitors!" Rose said with a mock pouting expression on her face. She was trying hard not to smile.

Barbara and Ian looked at each other again. There was definitely something strange about Rose, but they couldn't figure out what it was. Barbara wondered if who she thought Rose was earlier might be wrong though. The Rose Tyler that she had heard about would only be in her 20's now. The whole mother vibe that she had been getting off of her must have been a mistake.

They went to the university, and Rose posed as a visiting official from administration who had come to check on the efficiency of the school and how it was being run. That seemed to go hand in hand with the whole Dalek like mentality that some of the teachers had adopted lately.

Ian had given her a list of the weird acting teachers, and she began to check on them.

She entered the classroom of the first name on the list. Mr. Jackson.

Mr. Jackson was a stern angry looking middle aged man who looked like he chewed on steel cables for nourishment. He gave Rose a look of pure contempt when she greeted him.

"Hello, I'm Cassandra Harkness. I'm here to make sure that everything in this classroom is running efficiently, and the students are all at the top of their game. We want only the brightest minds and the best of the best in our schools. We strive for perfection always," Rose said as she almost gagged. She knew that if her old teenage Time Lady self could see her now that she would most likely slap her into next week. Rose was and always would be a rebel. She just wasn't one to be constrained, and that was one of the reasons working as a shop girl had just been killing her spirit until the Doctor came along.

"The subjects have been performing more efficiently since I have been implementing the new teaching methods. Their grades have been significantly improved as well. The smartest among them have already been singled out, and they will soon be ready to move on to the next level of the experiment," Mr. Jackson said with a monotone almost robotic voice.

"What is the next level?" Rose asked.

Mr. Jackson looked at her for a moment as if trying to understand her.

"Conversion," was all that he finally said.

"Conversion?" Rose asked with a sinking feeling.

"They will be moved on to a higher level," Mr. Jackson said cryptically. She had a feeling though that there was a hidden meaning to his words.

She got nothing more out of him after that. She quickly ended the interview and was about to leave the room when she noticed several of the students rubbing their arms.

"Have they been receiving shots?" Rose asked, suddenly concerned.

"Yes. They are necessary for the new program to be implemented," Mr. Jackson said in his emotionless voice.

"What kind of shots?" Rose asked.

"They are intelligence boosters. Nothing harmful," Mr. Jackson said as if such things happened every day.

She shivered slightly, and then left the classroom. She went and checked on the other teachers, and she quickly discovered that they were all doing exactly the same things.

In the last classroom that she visited, Rose found a still full syringe of one of the shots that the strange teachers had been giving to the students. She put it in her pocket and walked out with it after she finished her interview with the last teacher.

She met with Ian, Barbara, Jenny, and Susan out in the main lobby of the school.

"There's definitely something strange going on here. They're even giving the students shots of some strange serum," Rose said.

"Shots? The teachers aren't supposed to be giving shots!" Barbara said alarmed.

"They are though. I picked up a sample of one of them. We have to analyze it back in the TARDIS. I fear that I already know what it is though. One of the teachers told me that the smartest of the students would be put into a conversion program. Does that ring any bells with anyone?" Rose said.

They are looked horrified at that. They all had a pretty good idea what that meant.

When they got back to the TARDIS, Rose analyzed the syringe and found that her suspicions were confirmed. It was full of Dalek DNA!

They were preparing the students to be converted into Daleks. Rose could see that they were using the school as a recruiting ground for new and smarter Daleks to be created from the available humans.

"I'm going back there and shutting this down now! You two don't have to go. It's going to be extremely dangerous there once they know that I'm on to them," Rose told Ian and Barbara.

Barbara looked at her suspiciously as she saw the happy, fun loving Rose that she had seen until now change into a battle ready stance and her face became serious and stern. Rose was much more complicated than she had imagined.

"We're coming. It'll be just like old times again," Barbara said, and Ian nodded in agreement.

Rose began to operate the controls of the TARDIS, and they took off. Barbara studied Rose again. She was piloting the TARDIS even better than the Doctor had. It was a smooth effortless trip to the school, and they landed silently with no noise. Rose was getting harder to figure out by the moment.

They could tell by the night sky outside that Rose had brought them back there after the school had been closed.

Rose pulled out her sonic screwdriver, and the five of them began to search around the school. They kept going until they found a secret entrance in one of the classrooms. Rose opened it with her sonic, and Ian and Barbara added another question to their growing list about this mysterious woman. She was like a female version of the Doctor!

As they entered the hidden room, they saw that it contained advanced machinery that certainly did not belong on this world or in this time. Rose instantly recognized it as Dalek technology. This was their conversion equipment. She was about to start dismantling it, when she realized that they wouldn't just leave anything this important unguarded. At the same time as she thought this, a Dalek came flying toward them and began shouting, "EXTERMINATE!"

It was just about to fire on them when they could hear a loud buzzing sound from behind them. The Dalek went flying backwards into the machinery, and it exploded on contact with it. The machinery caught on fire and started to burn as well.

Rose whirled around to see who had just saved her.

"Hi, Honey! I'm home!" The Doctor said as he held his sonic screwdriver in his hand.

"Well, I might have known that it would be you," Rose said irritated.

"You've got some explaining to do, Rose Tyler! You took my TARDIS without asking me!" The Doctor said pouting.

"Technically she belongs to me. I can do whatever I want with her. I own her after all," Rose said with a defiant look.

"She's been mine for several hundred years now. I think that I can safely say she's mine by now," The Doctor said with smugness.

"Fine. She's both of ours," Rose said with a small smile. She wasn't giving up that easily.

The Doctor groaned.

"You are the most impossible woman that I've ever met!" he shouted.

"I thought that was one of the things that you loved about me," Rose said with a huge grin on her face.

"Oh, right!" The Doctor said as an equally wide grin covered his face. He could never stay mad at her for long.

The two of them began to kiss passionately, and Ian and Barbara just stood there open mouthed as what they had just said to each other began to sink into their minds.

"You're the Doctor?!" Barbara finally asked him when he had stopped kissing Rose.

"Hello, Barbara," The Doctor said with a grin.

"How?" Ian asked.

"It's a little thing that my people can do called regeneration. We become a new person but with the same memories and the core personality of our old self still there. This me is a lot younger than I was when you knew me that's for sure. I'm sure it is rather shocking," The Doctor said.

"That's an understatement!" Ian said in astonishment. The Doctor that he and Barbara had travelled with was an old man who had used a cane to walk with on occasion. Now, he was suddenly a fresh faced kid! Shocking didn't quite cover it!

Barbara looked at Rose, and her mouth dropped even lower as she realized at last just who Rose must be.

"You're the Doctor's wife! You're Susan's grandmother!" Barbara said in utter disbelief.

Rose gave a sweet smile and said, "Yeah! That's me. I should have told you about it upfront, but I didn't want to freak you out unnecessarily. It's a lot to take in all at once, isn't it?"

Barbara nodded silently, and she could see Rose looking at her sympathetically.

Barbara then thought of something that still didn't make sense and asked Rose, "If you're his wife, then how could you be the same Rose Tyler who almost burned down her high school?"

"I regenerated and then became human for 20 years or so after I was attacked by some Daleks, and I lost my memory of who I was. The Doctor thought that I was dead. I only recently remembered, and now we're back together again. I had actually traveled with him as his companion before that, and neither of us knew who we really were to each other although we both loved each other from the start even when I was human," Rose explained.

Barbara smiled at that. It sounded so romantic.

"You mean that the two of you fell in love with each other all over again even though neither of you knew who the other really was to you?" Barbara said.

"Yeah! It's true love I suppose," Rose said with a smile.

"Of course it is. You're my pink and yellow Time Lady. My hearts would recognize you anywhere even if it takes my brain a little longer to figure it out," The Doctor said.

"Who is Jenny then?" Barbara asked the last of her questions.

"I'm their daughter and Susan's aunt. That's kind of silly though because Susan is so much older than me. I'm really more like a little sister to Susan instead," Jenny answered.

"A very annoying but mostly lovable little sister," Susan agreed with a slight smile.

Jenny shot her a dirty look which quickly changed to a grin.

Ian and Barbara couldn't help but laugh. They were both so glad that the Doctor and Susan had such a wonderful family to be a part of. When they had known them before, they had both been lonely and were constantly looking over their shoulders as if they were trying to escape from something or someone. To see them happy like this really warmed their hearts. They knew that both of them deserved it!

Their happy moments together were interrupted by another Dalek shouting, "HALT OR YOU WILL BE EXTERMINATED!"

"Here we go again," Rose said with a sigh.

**Next: The Doctor and Rose work together at last in this series as they attempt to shut down the Dalek conversion factory.**


	7. Chapter 7

CHAPTER 7

I do not own Doctor Who and I am making no profit off of this.

The Dalek that had been shouting at the Doctor and Rose was quickly joined by a dozen or so more until the couple were soon surrounded. Susan and Jenny quickly pulled Ian and Barbara to the side because the two girls knew what Rose and the Doctor would most likely do next in this situation. They had seen them do it before when they had been surrounded. Between the two of them, Susan and Jenny referred to what was about to happen next as "The Dance".

This was not to be confused with any other connotations of that word in connection to the Doctor and Rose. Susan had once heard Captain Jack make some speculations of his own about that particular topic, and she had almost died of embarrassment. Everyone told Jack to stop, but it had taken Donna slapping him almost unconscious to finally get him to shut up! Susan still laughed to herself when she thought of the Metacrisis' expression at this conversation. He had looked like he had wanted to melt through the floor!

Susan shoved all other thoughts quickly aside as slowly but surely "The Dance" began. It was beautiful to watch, but it could be deadly. Much like her Grandmother she thought.

The Doctor and Rose had each unconsciously grabbed the other's hand tightly while they aimed a sonic screwdriver at the incoming Daleks with the remaining hand. As the Daleks began to open fire on them, the two Time Lords began to start spinning and whirling around as they aimed their sonics at their assailants. They did all of this while continuing to hold hands as if they were performing their own special kind of dance!

The Daleks that the screwdrivers hit would go spinning out of control or be instantly stopped in their tracks depending on the settings of the device at the time which the two would constantly keep resetting to perform random effects on them.

All the while as the Daleks kept pouring out of the inner recesses of the school to attack them in seemingly never ending waves, the Time Lord couple would continue to unceasingly perform this dance and as they did so they even carried on a normal conversation. Well, what passed for normal for the Doctor and Rose, anyway!

"You know you never did take me to Barcelona?" Rose complained as she caused a Dalek's gun stalk to explode in its face.

"I'll take you there right after this is all finished with. I always meant to before now, I just kept getting sidetracked. You know that the TARDIS doesn't always take me where I want to go," The Doctor said as his sonic caused a Dalek's eyestalk to explode and sent it roaming around the room in a blind panic.

"There we go! You always blame the TARDIS. It couldn't be that you just don't know how to fly her properly, could it? Nah!" Rose said sticking her tongue out while a screaming, flaming Dalek went flying over her head.

"I've been flying the TARDIS for hundreds of years! I'm an expert on her! I know the TARDIS like the back of my hand," The Doctor pouted as that same flying Dalek exploded somewhere far behind Rose and shook the room.

"Really? Explain the twelve months that it took for you to get me back home to my mum then? You told me it had only been twelve hours, and it turned out to be twelve months! Explain that?" Rose said with an evil grin as she sent a Dalek flying over the Doctor's head by making its internal gyros go out of sync.

"Always with the twelve months! There's your trump card. You always bring that one out every time, don't you?" The Doctor said as he pretended to sound angry, but his face turned into a smile.

The Dalek that had flown over his head meanwhile went barreling into an unfortunate group of Daleks nearby knocking them all over like bowling pins and causing them to explode!

"It could have been worse I suppose. I could have been twelve years like you did to Amy. When she told me that she knocked you out the next time that she saw you, I almost died laughing and told her that I would have done the exact same thing. Donna offered to do a reenactment for us, but I managed to talk her out of it," Rose said laughing.

At the same time, Rose's sonic caused several Daleks to collide into each other and then go careening to collide into yet more Daleks and so forth, toppling them all over on their backs like some bizarre game of dominoes.

"That was good of you! I could do without being slapped again anytime soon," The Doctor admitted with a huge grin as his sonic caused several nearby Daleks to spontaneously combust.

"I still remember the first time my mum slapped you and the expression on your face!" Rose said with a soft wistful smile as she caused some Daleks to shoot each other by making them turn and face each other at the same time that they fired their gun stalks.

"It hurt! That was one of the memories that kept me going after I took you back to Pete's World. It was one of the few memories that kept me doing anything anymore after I just gave you up like a fool!" The Doctor openly admitted.

At this point,"The Dance" was finished because all of the Daleks were lying defeated, if not utterly destroyed, all over the place. The triumphant couple seemed to take no notice of this carnage though nor did they care. They just continued to hold hands and gazed at each other silently without saying a word for several long minutes afterwards. It was as if they were each under the other's spell.

Susan couldn't help but smile at the sight. It would have been absolutely beautiful if it wasn't for the burning wreckage and destruction all around them. The whole incident seemed to sum their relationship up in a nutshell somehow. It was the two of them against the universe and if anything in the universe got in their way then it would crash and burn but they would continue to endure forever!

**Next: The Doctor and Rose finally finish off the Dalek threat.**


	8. Chapter 8

CHAPTER 8

I do not own Doctor Who and I am not making a profit off of this.

After a thorough search of the rest of the school, the Doctor and Rose finally came upon the one remaining Dalek there. This one was obviously the leader and, of course, the most powerful one. It was surrounded by the teachers who had been working for the Daleks.

The teachers were forming a circle around the Dalek and acting as a shield for it.

"It's over, you know. You might as well give up now. You're the last one. Let these people go. The effects of the Dalek DNA that you gave them can still be counteracted. Your mission has failed. There's no point in continuing it any further," The Doctor said.

"YES, THERE IS A POINT. THESE SUBJECTS ARE TO BE TESTED IN THE FIELD. DRONES, PROVE YOUR CAPABILITIES. EXTERMINATE THEM!" The Dalek commanded.

"Like that was ever going to work," Rose said as she rolled her eyes.

"It might work someday," The Doctor said with a grin.

"Has it ever worked?" Rose asked.

"No," The Doctor admitted.

"What was that they say about doing the same thing over and over again and expecting to get different results every time? Oh yeah! It's the definition of insanity!" Rose joked.

"Oi! I'm not insane. A little bit mad maybe but never insane," the Doctor said with a pout.

"Only a little bit," Rose giggled.

"Shut up," the Doctor said with a smile.

The teachers began to rush towards them and started to attack them. The Doctor and Rose began to fight them in hand to hand combat as they tried not to seriously injure them. Jenny and Susan soon had to join in to make things more even. Ian and Barbara tried to help as much as they could but their fighting skills were a little rusty after not having had to use them for fifty years.

There were twelve teachers to the six of them. That was bad enough odds but add to that the fact that each teacher had been augmented by Dalek DNA to have superior strength and intelligence, and then the results were definitely in the Dalek's favor.

They would soon be overwhelmed if they kept fighting like this.

The Doctor looked at Rose and at a spot above her, and Rose nodded. Ian and Barbara knew, without even knowing about their bond, that they had somehow wordlessly communicated a plan to each other. The two of them had actually been like this long before they had had a bond. They had gotten where they knew what each other was thinking without saying a word back when Rose was still the Doctor's companion.

Rose aimed her sonic screwdriver at a pipe high up in the ceiling above the teachers and caused it to explode. The pipe showered water down on top of them distracting them at the same time as the Doctor used his sonic screwdriver to blow out the lone Dalek's circuitry and render it immobile and incapable of communicating anymore to the teachers!

With no more signals coming to them from the Dalek, the teachers stopped moving and just stood there like zombies as they awaited further orders.

Barbara looked at the teachers with concern.

"Are they going to be alright?" she asked.

Rose walked over to one of them and began to examine them with her sonic screwdriver.

Then, she looked at Barbara and smiled a reassuring smile at her.

"They'll be fine. The DNA hasn't been given to them in a high enough dosage to leave any permanent effect. It should pass out of their systems naturally in a few days. Then, they should be back to normal. As for the mental conditioning, that's a combination of the DNA and brainwashing techniques. The brainwashing should be able to be undone easily enough too," Rose said.

"I've contacted UNIT, and they're already sending some people over here to help the teachers and to clean up the mess at the school," The Doctor told them.

"We do seem to create a huge mess wherever we go. I can help fix things around the school though. No need to bother UNIT with that," Rose said.

Susan knew what Rose was about to do. She started to warn Ian and Barbara about what they were about to see, but it was already too late.

Rose turned into Bad Wolf, and golden energy flowed out of her and everything in the school that had been destroyed was instantly fixed as though it had never been touched. She disintegrated all traces of the Dalek technology and the Dalek carcasses as well. The only evidence now that the Daleks had ever been there was the teachers.

Barbara and Ian looked at her with their jaws on the floor.

Rose realized what she had just done and looked at them with a sheepish grin as she turned back to normal.

"That's something I forgot to tell you about. It's not that big a deal, really," Rose said.

As she tried to explain about Bad Wolf to them, they just continued to stare at her without blinking.

When UNIT arrived, they took the teachers with them and told them that the children would be looked at by a UNIT doctor.

Later back at Ian and Barbara's house, Rose was off to the side of the living room away from the others. She was looking a little uncomfortable.

Ian and Barbara had both been shocked at first at Rose's amazing abilities, but that didn't mean that they wanted Rose to feel ostracized because of them. They were both fine now that they had gotten over the initial shock.

Barbara went over to Rose and touched her shoulder.

"I'm sorry about the way that we reacted earlier. We meant no disrespect. We don't want you to feel unwelcome or uncomfortable here," Barbara said.

"That's right. It was just a bit of a shock. Although I admit that I shouldn't be shocked at anything to do with the Doctor. It's quite alright, Rose. We're not afraid, terrified, or angry. We're good with it. You don't need to feel bad about anything," Ian said.

Rose looked at them and smiled a grateful smile.

"Thank you for your kind words, but that wasn't what was bothering me. I knew that you two were okay with it a long time ago once you started blinking again and responding to questions. No, I was bothered about what I saw back at the school. The Daleks were trying to turn children into Daleks! That's a new low even for them! I just makes me shudder every time I think about," Rose admitted.

"I know. It makes me glad that we don't travel with the Doctor any more. It's not that we didn't love the adventure and the excitement, but there were so many terrible things also. Things that I'll never forget! I can't say that I'd trade one second of it though. I still remember my time with the Doctor and Susan fondly. It was one of the best times of my life," Barbara said.

"Yes, I'll agree with that. Traveling with the Doctor made me a better person. It made me stronger and made me think about things in a different way. I wouldn't trade any of it for the world. My life was much better for having had the Doctor and Susan in it," Ian told her.

Rose hugged both of them at once.

When she released them, she said, "That was to thank both of you for helping them while I was gone. You were there when they needed someone the most because they met you not too long after I disappeared. Susan told me how you helped heal his broken hearts and made him himself again. She said that you made her feel like she was in a family again. She also explained to me how both of you would always look after her and protect her like she was your own. Thank you so much for that! If it hadn't been for you, I don't know what would have happened to them. I owe you a debt I'll never be able to repay!"

"Susan did feel like family. She was like a daughter to us. She's very easy to love, isn't she?" Barbara said with a grin.

"She always was. She grabbed ahold of my heart a long time ago and never let go. Not that I'd want her to," Rose smiled softly.

"There is one thing that I'd like to ask you, Rose. Have we ever met before?" Barbara said seriously.

Rose looked surprised.

"Why do you ask?" Rose said.

"I could have sworn that we met a young woman who looked just like you once not long after we stopped traveling with the Doctor. She walked up to both of us and hugged us just like you just did. Ian and I both experienced some kind of burning sensation in our shoulders that quickly went away. I thought that maybe she had mistaken us for someone else because she looked at us with a friendly smile and thanked us. Then, she ran into a crowd and disappeared. Was that you, Rose?" Barbara asked.

"No. At least, I don't think so," Rose said puzzled.

The Doctor had overheard them and walked over to them.

"Maybe you will do it though," the Doctor suggested with a mysterious smile.

"What do you know about this?" Rose asked him suspiciously.

"You're a time traveler, Rose. It probably is you in the future," The Doctor said with a smile.

Rose shrugged and said, "I learned a long time ago that anything is possible when I'm travelling with you."

The Doctor looked a little put out by that and said, "I hope that you meant that in a positive way."

"I always mean everything that I say to you in a positive way even when I call you an idiot!" Rose said.

"How is being an idiot a positive thing?" The Doctor asked as he mock pouted.

"It's positive because it works so well for you," Rose joked.

The Doctor just shook his head at that while everyone else laughed.

Susan leaned over to Jenny and whispered, "I was afraid that she was going to say to him that she was positive he was an idiot."

Jenny burst out laughing but wouldn't explain why to her confused parents as Susan stood over to the side looking innocent.

Later when they were saying their goodbyes to Ian and Barbara, Susan gave them a cell phone.

"I want you to call me on this if you ever need me or just want to talk. I don't want to go another fifty years without hearing from you again, okay?" Susan asked in the tone of a parent to a child.

Barbara laughed as Susan smiled showing that she wasn't being serious about the tone.

"We will, Susan. I swear. Don't be a stranger yourself. Please come back and visit anytime," Barbara said as she hugged the Time Lady goodbye.

"We're both going to miss you, Susan. Maybe you could come by again soon and we could have you meet our family. They're all heard a lot about you, and I know that they think that we just made you up. You can help us prove that you're real, and we're not crazy," Ian joked with Susan as he hugged her too.

"I'll do that. I would love to meet them. I'm sure that you had plenty to tell them about Grandfather too," Susan said with a grin.

"Oh, yes. They really didn't believe me about him. They said that there was no way that he could be real," Ian chuckled.

"Oi! I know when I'm insulted! It's time to go Susan," The Doctor said with a smile.

He hugged his two former companions himself then and told them goodbye.

"I'll be back with her again, and this time we'll take you on a trip somewhere," The Doctor promised.

Ian and Barbara both looked a little hesitant about that.

"What?" the Doctor asked.

"I don't know that they want to take the chance of being stranded traveling with you for two years again before they can go home, Doctor," Rose said with a snicker.

"Nonsense! I'm the master of the TARDIS now. I'd get them back in the blink of an eye," The Doctor insisted.

"Do you really want to go through this argument again?" Rose said as she began to laugh.

The Doctor just looked at her and grinned.

Jenny quickly came up behind them and told Ian and Barbara, "I think we should probably go now before they start getting into a spat again. They're liable to be here all day and half the night if that happens. Believe me I know!"

Ian and Barbara just laughed and shook their heads as the four of them got into the TARDIS.

As the TARDIS entered the Vortex, the Doctor asked Rose, "So where to next?"

Rose looked at him and said, "I want to go see Ian and Barbara right after they return home. I guess I should go ahead and fulfill my part in that story that they told me about."

The Doctor nodded and took her there.

Rose soon found them and went up to them and hugged them just like Barbara said that she had. Then, she got a sudden inspiration and decided that there was a way that she could thank them after all for what they had done to help her family.

As she hugged them, her hands glowed and she gave them both a very slow aging rate! They would now live for at least a few hundred years!

She then walked away from then and went back to the TARDIS. She loved this solution to their aging problem. It was all very timey wimey. She wondered if somehow the Doctor hadn't known about it all along. Knowing him he probably had.

**Next: Rose finally gets to go to Barcelona and soon might wish that she hadn't!**


	9. Chapter 9

CHAPTER 9

I do not own Doctor Who and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews! **

**Special Note: I have a poll up now on my profile that invites all of my readers to make a choice as to what Jenny's second name should be. If Rose is the Bad Wolf and the Doctor is the Oncoming Storm then Jenny is _. The choices are: Time's Angel, Time Angel, Guardian Angel, White Wolf, Daughter of the Wolf, Wolf's Daughter, and Eye of the Storm. Give me your answer in the poll or in a review. I'll put the answer in as Jenny's new battle name in War of the Guardians.**

The TARDIS landed on Barcelona, and Rose rushed out the door with undisguised joy. Even after all of this time, she still felt like a kid on Christmas morning every time that she went to a new planet.

Barcelona did not disappoint her either. She now knew why the Doctor wanted to take her here. This place was like the ultimate shopping mall. There were stores of all kinds everywhere in sight. They seemed to carry merchandise of all kinds and types and to be full of everything that she could possibly ever want. It was a shopper's version of paradise!

Rose, Jenny and Susan soon lost themselves in a state of shopping euphoria as they invaded store after store and used the Doctor's unlimited credit sticks to buy everything in sight. The Doctor had stayed in the TARDIS the whole time doing repairs because he had absolutely no interest in shopping whatsoever.

He was soon interrupted though when he heard a knock on the TARDIS doors. He opened them to find a mountain sized pile of shopping bags waiting for him!

The Doctor's eyes bugged wide as he wondered how in the world he was going to get all of that in the TARDIS without killing himself.

Rose, Susan, and Jenny were nowhere in sight. The bags had been left by a deliveryman who handed him a form to sign showing that he had received them.

"How am I supposed to move all of that?" The Doctor asked with a frown,

"That's your problem. I got them here, and you signed for them. The rest is up to you," the unhelpful deliveryman said as he walked away.

The Doctor groaned in frustration. This was not going to be fun he said to himself as he started to carry in the bags.

Rose felt bad for doing that to him. She really did. She just kind of found it easy not to think about those bad feelings for a while once she got caught up in the shopping bug and was eyeing up her next big purchase.

Jenny looked at her and laughed. She didn't really understand this need of her mum's to buy things. She was satisfied to just buy a few basic items of clothing and some things that she needed and to leave it at that. She had grown used to living in a minimal lifestyle in her years alone.

"I hope that the bad guys never find out about this," Jenny joked.

"About what?" Rose asked as she looked away from a particularly nice looking evening gown for a second.

"Your secret weakness. All they have to do to stop you is to tell you about a one day sale on shoes, and you'll be too busy buying out the place to fight with them. I can see it now! Universe destroyed because there was a two for one sale on handbags!" Jenny giggled.

"It does seem to be excessive, Grandmother. What will you possibly do with all of these things? Will you ever use all of them?" Susan said practically.

"Of course! I'm going to wear or use all of them. I have to look my best when I'm kicking the backside of a Dalek, don't I?" Rose said with a grin.

"Can't you stop now though? You already have so much. Grandfather keeps shouting in my head for me to get you to stop," Susan said cringing.

"You don't understand. My human mum and I never had much when I was growing up on Earth, and I had to do without for a long time. Now that I have the Doctor's bank roll though I want to get whatever I want," Rose said.

"The TARDIS would probably give you whatever you want in the wardrobe," Susan said.

"Then I'd miss the thrill of the hunt," Rose said.

"Now Dad is screaming in my head," Jenny complained.

Rose groaned. She had deliberately been blocking him out so that he couldn't talk to her. Now he was using her girls against her to complain instead.

She opened the link and asked him What do you want?

Please stop! The Doctor said pitifully as he shared a mental image of a TARDIS store room full of her latest purchases and another store room beginning to get filled up with them.

She began to laugh and took pity on him as she snapped out of her shopping spell!

All right! I'll stop! I guess I got a little carried away! Rose admitted.

A little carried away?! I've been moving things into the TARDIS for two hours! Just because our ship is almost infinite on the inside doesn't mean that we have to try and fill up all of that space! the Doctor said exasperated.

I'm so sorry! I'm coming back to help you move the rest of it! Rose promised him.

Bless you! the Doctor said with a sigh of relief.

"Let's go back girls. I'm afraid the Doctor isn't too happy with me right now. We'll have to help move the rest of my stuff into the TARDIS," Rose said with a sigh.

"We?! It's your stuff," Jenny said, a little miffed.

Rose just laughed.

On the way back to the TARDIS, the three Time Ladies were suddenly stopped in their tracks by an unexpected new arrival. Several new arrivals actually!

All around them mannequins busted through store window displays and quickly surrounded them with their hands open to reveal a gun. The Autons were here.

"They must be mad that you bought all of their clothes off of them," Jenny joked.

Rose glared at her and asked, "Where did you learn to crack wise like that?"

"I learned from the best, mum," Jenny said with a wink.

Rose grinned.

I suppose she did. Mum always said that I had a mouth on me she thought.

Autons continued to surround them by the dozens and still more of them kept coming to life all around them.

"You're not still mad about that whole anti-plastic thing, are you?" Rose asked them.

"Rose Tyler! Rose Tyler!" the Autons started to chant.

"Apparently they are," Susan said with a grimace.

Sorry, Doctor! I guess I'll be a little late helping you with the shopping Rose thought to herself.

**Next: Rose is trapped on a planet full of Autons out to destroy her! Will the Doctor ever get all of her shopping bags in the TARDIS by himself? **


	10. Chapter 10

CHAPTER 10

I do not own Doctor Who and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews! **

**Special Note: I have a poll up now on my profile that invites all of my readers to make a choice as to what Jenny's second name should be. If Rose is the Bad Wolf and the Doctor is the Oncoming Storm then Jenny is _. The choices are: Time's Angel, Time Angel, Guardian Angel, White Wolf, Daughter of the Wolf, Wolf's Daughter, The Angel of Time, and Eye of the Storm. Give me your answer in the poll or in a review. I'll put the answer in as Jenny's new battle name in War of the Guardians.**

The Doctor had been putting bags in the TARDIS for hours now. He swore to himself that he was never coming to Barcelona again. He would rather fight a planet full of angry Daleks than ever set foot near a store with Rose ever again! He could barely move. He was so sore all over, especially his poor back. He just wanted to sleep for a couple of weeks or so. He was so, so very tired!

It was then that he got a mental communication from Rose.

Please say you're coming back to the TARDIS! The Doctor fervently wished.

Doctor, I'm being attacked by the Autons! Rose shouted to him in his mind.

Oh, thank you! The Doctor offered up praise to a higher being.

What?! Rose said, confused and angry in his head.

Nothing, honey! I'll be there in a minute! The Doctor thought back.

If the TARDIS can still move under all the weight! He thought to himself sarcastically.

Minutes later, the Doctor popped out of the TARDIS to find that Rose, Susan, and Jenny had been surrounded by hordes of shop store dummies from all over the planet. There was an army of them for miles around as far as the eye could see!

"Rose Tyler!" they all screamed out as one.

"I take it they're not my fan club," Rose said to him as he approached her.

"The TARDIS picked up transmissions from the Autons here to the entire Nestene Consciousness. They're bringing in Autons from throughout the universe. They're all coming here just to see you!" The Doctor warned Rose.

"Wow! They really know how to carry a grudge, don't they?" Rose said with a shocked look on her face.

She had already been melting Autons by the hundreds for an hour or two now, but they just kept coming. She had finally called for the Doctor when she had gotten tired of it.

"Come on. I'll take us all out of her. They're never going to stop coming," The Doctor told her.

Rose created a massive heat burst and melted the Autons for about a mile around so that they could have time to escape. Then, they all got into the TARDIS and dematerialized.

"What are we going to do? We can't just leave the Autons there to run wild all over Barcelona!" Rose said.

"We could just ask them what they want," The Doctor said.

"I'd say that that would be obvious!" Rose shouted as she looked at him like he was insane.

"If they wanted to kill you, I should think that even they would have come up with a more inventive way of doing it than to throw a million of themselves up against you in a suicide run!" The Doctor said.

Rose had to nod in agreement. It didn't make much sense. They had to know that they were no real threat to her, and that she could stand there and melt them all day without breaking a sweat.

The Doctor used the TARDIS to contact the Nestene Consciousness.

"What do you want with my wife?" The Doctor asked it.

"We wish to talk to her. We were trying to contact her all day, but she wouldn't pay us any attention. She just kept shopping! We attempted to contact her telepathically, but her mind was closed off. We attempted to contact her via the shop store dummies, and she just ignored us. We had the dummies moving around and even dancing beside of her; but she only paid attention to the bags, clothes and jewelry! She would not stop!" the Consciousness said in a tone of what almost sounded like annoyance. Did the Nestene get annoyed?

"Tell me about it, mate!" the Doctor said under his breath.

Rose shot him a stare that would melt the sun, and he quickly grinned back at her apologetically.

"So you decided to attack me to get my attention?! You said hello by throwing an entire planet full of shop store dummies at me?" Rose asked them angrily.

"It was the only thing that we could think of that could get you to talk to us! We are sorry to bother you, but we need your help," the Consciousness pleaded.

"You have a funny way of asking for it," Rose replied, still angry.

"We request that you help us find a new place to call home in another universe. We know that you have great power and can be merciful even to your enemies. Please help us find a new home, and we will owe you a great favor. You can call upon our help later when you need it," the Consciousness offered.

Rose could sense the urgency in the Consciousness' voice, and her hearts melted toward them a little.

"Why now? You could have asked the Doctor for help back on Earth the last time that we met, but you tried to kill him instead," Rose asked.

"We were wrong! We misinterpreted his actions, especially so soon after the Time War. We were still paranoid about what had happened then. We need a home in another reality now so that we can escape the devastation that is coming," the Consciousness said.

Rose knew what they were so riled up about now.

"You mean the Ouroboros," she said.

"Yes! We don't know much about them except that wherever they go all communications are shut off afterward and no one can get in or out alive!" the Consciousness said in a near panic.

"Fine! I won't stand by and watch you be made extinct," Rose agreed.

She teleported to the location of the Consciousness and led it and its Autons off of Barcelona and into a parallel universe where there were no other lifeforms that they could attack.

"Thank you! We know that we don't deserve such treatment from you after how we acted when we first met. Our offer to help you still stands. We can start now by warning you that we have heard that the Ouroboros are out to destroy you first and foremost. They fear you most of all. You and your daughter," the Consciousness told her.

That rattled her, and she was still thinking about it when she returned to Barcelona to meet back up with the Doctor.

She didn't tell the Doctor what the Consciousness had said, but she could tell that he knew that something was bothering her. He just kept watching her intently.

She was about to open up to him when another knock came on the TARDIS door. The Doctor went to answer it, and she heard him scream louder than she had ever heard him scream in her life!

She quickly raced to the door to find a huge pile of shopping bags outside waiting for her.

The delivery man was standing there waiting for her to sign off on them.

"I'm afraid you must have the wrong address. I didn't buy anything else," Rose said.

The delivery man looked at the order again and nodded. He looked at Rose apologetically as he said, "I'm sorry, Ma'am! I got so used to delivering big shipments to this blue box today that I guess I just brought them here automatically without thinking about it! Sorry about that! No harm done though," the deliveryman said as he started to load the bags back into his delivery truck.

Rose shut the door with a sigh of relief.

"You see Doctor! I didn't buy anything else. It was a false alarm," Rose said.

She looked for him, but she didn't see him anywhere.

"Where did he go so quickly? Did anyone see him leave the console room?" Rose asked.

Both of the girls shook their heads at her.

"Where in the world did he go?" Rose asked.

Then, she had her answer as she found him lying unconscious behind the console!

She woke him up, and he said groggily, "No! No more! Mercy! I'll do anything, Rose! No more bags!"

She giggled at him.

"Don't worry about it. There are no more bags! Why don't you go and lay down now?" Rose suggested as she gave him a pitying look.

He wearily got up and slowly began to make his way to their bedroom. He looked pale and clammy.

"Yes, so tired. So very tired and my back and legs hurt!" the Doctor complained.

The three girls started laughing as soon as he was out of earshot!

A few days later, the Doctor was talking with Captain Jack when he told him, "Rose asked me to go with her to Barcelona later today, and I said "sure, why not?". That's okay with you, isn't it?"

It was all that the Doctor could do to suppress a huge grin from immediately appearing on his face. He remained stone faced as he said, "Yeah, sure! Have fun, Jack! I think that you're going to enjoy it. It's exactly the kind of rest and relaxation that you deserve!"

Jack looked at him funny, but then he just smiled and walked away.

When Jack was long gone, the Doctor began to laugh out of control.

That serves him right for that last remark he made about my bow tie! The Doctor thought to himself with glee.

Maybe I can get Koschei to go with her next! He thought with a twinkle in his eye.

**Next: Rose gets her own companion? **


	11. Chapter 11

CHAPTER 11

I do not own Doctor Who, and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews! **

**Special Note: I have a poll up now on my profile that invites all of my readers to make a choice as to what Jenny's second name should be. I'll keep it up a few more days until we have a clear winner, and then I'll put the answer in as Jenny's new battle name in War of the Guardians.**

A young brunette woman in her early 20's was running down a deserted alleyway in the middle of London as she desperately tried to escape from a creature out of a nightmare. It wasn't out of her nightmare though. She would never think that such a thing was capable of even existing much less be chasing her down an alley on the worst night of her life.

She just kept running from it as she wondered how such a tiny thing could run so fast. She really should be wondering how it could even be running at all she thought to herself. There was no way that it could even be alive much less be running after here in the dark with a huge knife in its hand!

She continued to run until her legs gave out beneath her, and she fell. She screamed in terror as she wondered if the thing behind her was almost upon her.

Would she be found dead in this alley? Would anyone have any idea what had ever happened to her?

She began to cry as she got to her knees. This couldn't be real! Things like this just didn't happen in real life. These things only happened on TV or in the movies!

Then as she got to her feet, she saw that her pursuer had finally caught up to her. It was a tiny doll about a foot high that looked Chinese and wore clothes from nineteenth century China. It had a sinister expression on its face and a huge knife in its hand.

The woman screamed as it got closer and closer.

"Hold still, this will only hurt for a minute," the doll spoke.

This frightened her even more as she was rooted to the spot in terror and continued to scream at the unbelievable entity standing before her.

Suddenly, she heard a woman behind her say, "Let her go, Mr. Sin. It's me you want. I've been tracking you ever since I followed you here from the 1950s. How you came back to life after the Doctor deactivated you back in the nineteenth century is beyond me. Maybe you'd care to tell me about it and let this poor woman go!"

"You don't worry me, Time Lady. I can gut this female and then be gone from here in an instant. Even you can't move that fast!" the puppet taunted the new arrival.

"If I were just a Time Lady, then that might be true. Unfortunately for you though, I'm much more than that," the woman behind her proclaimed.

There was a flash of golden light that zipped past the brunette's head and hit Mr. Sin square in the chest. The puppet screamed as he fell over on the ground and did not move again.

The brunette slowly turned around and looked at the woman who was behind her.

She was a beautiful blonde that looked like she belonged on a stage singing somewhere or maybe on a popular television show. The blonde woman smiled at her kindly and asked her, "Are you alright?"

"Yeah. Puppets come to life and chase me down alleys with knives as they threaten to kill me every day! It happens to me all of the time and never, ever freaks me out!" the brunette said as she started to shake all over as the events of the night finally caught up to her.

The blonde woman looked at her in concern and put an arm around her.

"It's all right. You're okay now. He won't hurt you anymore. I've deactivated him by frying out his cerebral cortex. My name's Rose by the way," the blonde woman said.

"I'm Penny. Penny Miller," the brunette said as she calmed down some.

This woman Rose was calming Penny down just by being here. She had been shaking in fear at first, but now she felt strangely calm as if this woman's presence was making her feel completely safe somehow. It was a strange feeling.

"Do you feel better now?" Rose asked her with a worried expression on her face. She seemed to genuinely care about her even though she had only just met her.

"I'm fine. I just want to go home now. I feel like I should call my mother. I could have died tonight! She would have never known how or why. I still don't know myself. It's made me think about what's important," Penny said.

"It will certainly do that. Being afraid for your life will set your priorities straight, that's for sure," Rose said with a big smile.

Penny gave her a funny look. She talked as if she did this kind of thing all of the time.

Rose just laughed at the look on her face. She remembered when this had been her.

"What was that thing, and why did it want to kill me? How did you stop it?" Penny asked as the questions started pouring out of her.

Here we go. Here come the questions Rose thought with a smile.

"That was a cybernetic organism created by combining a mechanical body with the cerebral cortex of a pig. It was a plaything for the Icelandic ambassador's children in the 51st century until it went rogue and the pig part took over and almost caused World War VI. It later reappeared with a madman named Magnus Greel, the Butcher of Brisbane. He brought it with him to the 19th century as he escaped punishment from war crimes that he committed back in his own time. A man called the Doctor stopped Magnus Greel and the Peking Homunculus, or Mr. Sin as Greel called him. Both were supposed to have died but somehow Mr. Sin here escaped. I found him in the 1950s in Los Angeles. He was attacking people, but I stopped him from killing anyone. I believe that he was planning on claiming a larger body for himself. I chased him and followed him here, luckily for you. I fried his cerebral cortex with a bolt of Vortex energy so he won't be bothering anyone ever again," Rose explained.

"That can't be real. What you just said doesn't make sense! There's no way! What's really going on here? Is it a prank? Is that it? Are you from a TV show out to prank me?" Penny said as her mind grasped for answers.

"I just told you the truth. If you don't like it though, just believe whatever you want. It's all over for you now, anyway. You'll never see me again. Just forget what happened here tonight, Penny Miller. Forget about me. You're probably better off that way. I don't want to get you hurt," Rose said as she looked at her with kind, compassionate eyes.

"Why would I get hurt?" Penny asked her confused.

"You'll want to start traveling with me, and you'll be in danger every step of the way if I tell you anymore than I've already told you. Your mom will be angry and thinking that I'm out to corrupt you or hurt you in some way. I know the whole drill. Either you'll wind up getting hurt, or you'll leave me after you wise up and decide that my kind of life isn't for you. I'll just nip that in the bud right now and stop everything right here I think. It's better for both of us, Penny!" Rose said as she babbled on.

"Why would I be in danger?" Penny asked as she started getting intrigued.

"What just happened to you is what happens to me every day! I always deal with the weird, the strange, and the bizarre. Trust me it's not the kind of life for you if this freaks you out. Just go home and live your life, Pen!" Rose said sadly as she walked away from Penny.

Penny stood there in shock for a moment, and then she ran after Rose as fast as she could. She saw a blue box dematerialize with a wheezing grinding noise and shook her head in amazement. I did not just see that! she thought.

She went back to the alley to find Mr. Sin still there.

I didn't imagine it. It's real! Penny thought.

She made her way back to her apartment and slumped down in a chair.

What should I do now? She wondered.

She knew somehow that her life would never be the same again. She would find her again. She had to experience that kind of adventure and excitement again!

**Next: Rose gets tracked down by Penny. What happens next changes Penny Miller's life forever! **


	12. Chapter 12

CHAPTER 12

I do not own Doctor Who, and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews! **

**Special Note: I have a poll up now on my profile that invites all of my readers to make a choice as to what Jenny's second name should be. I'll keep it up a few more days until we have a clear winner, and then I'll put the answer in as Jenny's new battle name in War of the Guardians.**

Penny Miller had become obsessed with finding Rose in the weeks ahead. She had started by putting personal ads in the newspaper asking Rose to talk to her and giving her phone number. So far she hadn't gotten anything but crank calls.

She also went on the internet looking for references to a blonde with a blue box. She could find nothing until she came across an internet chat room where she talked to a man named Elton. Elton was the head of a group called LINDA who were constantly looking for another mysterious person called the Doctor. Penny remembered Rose mentioning a Doctor.

She brought up the story of her meeting with Rose to Elton. Elton then told her the story of how he met a companion of the Doctor's called Rose. Penny knew that this was the same woman by his description of her and her behavior. Unfortunately, Elton knew no way of contacting her. He did give her a last name for her though along with the name of her mother.

Penny started looking up the names Rose and Jackie Tyler everywhere online until she came across death records for Canary Wharf for both of them. This bothered Penny. Rose Tyler had been declared dead! Yet she knew that she had met the same woman that Elton had met. They were too similar for it to be coincidence, and they both traveled in a blue box!

She began to dig deeper and deeper and go further and further down the rabbit hole. She soon found out that the people behind Canary Wharf were rumored to be a secret group called Torchwood. She knew that it was just an urban legend and that most people thought that Torchwood was something only the lunatic fringe believed in, but she had to try this new lead.

She followed this lead and researched every mention of it that she could find on the internet and even found a book that mentioned the secret group in the library. She made a big show of herself and her knowledge about Rose and Torchwood everywhere that she went on the internet and in her community as she freely gave out her e-mail address as a contact. She didn't care if anyone thought that she was crazy. She wanted to attract a lot of attention so that Rose or someone who knew about her would contact her. She found no solid leads until she was contacted one day by a mysterious person. He had sent her an e-mail asking her to meet with him at a bar in Wales. She knew that this was incredibly stupid, but she was desperate to find Rose. She had devoted a good part of her life to finding her again, and she wasn't going to stop now.

She used up a lot of her savings and flew to Wales. She was in the bar at the agreed upon day and time and waited to be contacted. The person had not given their name. They had simply said that they would contact her if she sat on a stool at the front of the bar, and that they would mention the name Rose to her so that she would know who they were.

Penny began to get more and more worried as she waited. She was afraid that she was about to meet up with a psycho. She had to check out this lead though! She did have enough sense left not to go anywhere alone with this person. She knew that she wasn't going to do that at least.

She knew that she was losing it, but she had to find this mysterious woman again. She was on a quest now. She had to talk to Rose again, or she would never know what she had missed out on.

She waited and waited, and then finally a man in a World War II bomber jacket appeared and sat down beside her.

"Hello, my name is Captain Jack Harkness," the man said as he immediately started flirting with her.

"I'm not interested. I'm waiting to talk to someone," Penny said as she shot him down.

Jack seemed a little annoyed at first but quickly recovered as he said, "That's okay. You've been waiting to talk to me. I'm the one who e-mailed you about Rose!"

Penny's eyes widened in surprise, and she turned her full attention to him now.

"Do you know her? Can you schedule a meeting between us? I need to see her again. Please!" Penny almost pleaded with him.

He seemed a little taken aback by her reaction.

"Hold on a minute. Why do you want to meet with this Rose so badly anyway?" he asked.

He looked at her up and down in a non-sexual way as he noticed that she looked sick and her eyes were puffy. He didn't give her a chance to answer before he added with a concerned tone, "You look like you haven't eaten in days! You need to stop worrying about this mystery woman and start taking care of yourself!"

She was surprised by this. This guy reminded her of Rose in the way that he seemed to really care about her, a total stranger. She thought that maybe she had found a friend of Rose's at last!

"I can't help it. I know that this is going to sound bizarre, but she saved my life. This dummy came to life and tried to kill me. She saved my life from it. Then she disappeared in a blue box that just vanished in thin air! She kept talking about her life always being full of adventure and how it was too dangerous for me. I was so shocked by what had just happened that I didn't even try to argue with her. I should have convinced her to take me with her! I want to find out what I missed out on," Penny said.

Jack shook his head. That wasn't all of it. She had to have more reason than that to be so obsessed.

"What else? Why else do you want to see her again so badly?" Jack pressed her.

Penny hesitated for a moment, and then she decided to be honest with the man.

"I need to know that there is more than just this out there. I need to know that there is wonder in the world, and that this isn't all that there is! If I know that, then maybe that would mean that there's an afterlife too and that my dad is okay somewhere!" Penny said as she began to get upset.

Jack's heart broke, and he began to feel bad for this girl. He had come her because she was making such a fuss about Rose and Torchwood everywhere online and out in the greater community that he had to check and see if she were a threat to Rose or Torchwood. He had to know just who she was exactly, and why she was so obsessed with hunting Rose down. He had originally been going to erase her memory of the last few weeks with the Retcon drug that Torchwood used in cases where people got too close to the truth, but now he wasn't so sure.

"I'm sorry about your father! Even if this Rose is real, she wouldn't be able to help you find out if he was alright or not. From what I've heard about her, that kind of thing is outside her range of expertise," Jack said.

Penny gained control of herself again and said, "I know. Everything I've heard about her already told me that, but I just need to know that the unknown exists. I need to know that what we're told is all that is isn't all that there is. Do you know what I mean?"

Jack nodded and said, "Well, you have heard of aliens and seen them on TV, haven't you?"

"Yes, but then there are people who deny that what we've been shown is real. Some people don't even remember the alien attacks happening. It's just all so confusing. I need to see it with my own eyes," Penny said.

Jack came to a decision and said, "I want you to meet with me again tomorrow at this same time right here. I might have some more information for you."

Penny shook her head.

"I can't do that. I don't have any money to stay here any longer than today, and I have to go to work tomorrow anyway. You have to tell me something now," Penny insisted.

"I'll try and be back in two hours then. Just stay right here and don't move. Don't go anywhere with anyone. This is a dangerous place. You should have never come here alone in the first place! You're just asking for trouble being in a place like this alone," Jack said.

He left, and she was determined to stay there the rest of the night if she had to in order to wait on him.

Suddenly, a man came up to her and said, "I couldn't help but overhear you saying that you were looking for a blonde woman named Rose who travels in a blue box. I know something about her. If you come with me, I'll take you to her."

He was looking into her eyes, and she found herself feeling funny.

She realized that she was feeling sleepy. How? She hadn't drunken anything but a non-alcoholic drink all night.

Then she realized something. She had never mentioned that Rose was blonde!

"Who are you?" Penny asked as she found herself beginning to slip away into sleep. She couldn't tear herself away from his eyes!

"I'm someone who is very interested in finding Rose Tyler. I think that you will be just the right bait that I need to draw her in!" the mysterious man said as she began to pass out.

"Tell the man in the bomber jacket when he comes back that I took this lady with me to this address because she got sick. He can join us there once he returns," the man said as he left a card with the bartender.

"What are you doing?" Penny managed to get out just before she collapsed in the man's arms.

"Setting a trap," the man said with an evil smile.

That was the last thing that she heard until she found herself in an abandoned warehouse surrounded by strange people!

"Welcome back, girl! Your mysterious friend hasn't come for you yet but rest assured that he will! It will be either him or Rose Tyler. We eagerly await their arrival!" the man who had kidnapped her said.

"Who are you? How did you hypnotize me?" Penny said terrified.

"We are the Wolves of Fenric! Rose Tyler defeated our master and drove him from the earthly plane. We shall avenge him by killing her! Even someone as powerful as her cannot possibly overcome an entire army of vampires! There are thousands of us gathered here tonight to destroy her," the vampire who had kidnapped her said.

"Vampires!" Penny said in shock.

"You wanted proof of life after death. Here we are. Are you satisfied now?" the vampire said mocking her, and he laughed at her. The other vampires joined in, and it was a horrible sound.

She began to think that maybe it had been a bad idea to meet up with strange people in a strange bar in the middle of the night! Her mother would have a coronary if she knew what she had done! She couldn't believe that she had been so stupid! She was going to die here or maybe even be made into a vampire! Her only hope was a man that she had only met for about ten minutes!

As it turned out though, Jack wasn't her only hope.

"I believe that you're holding my friend there against her will. Let her go! It's me that you want. Face me instead of hiding behind a defenseless woman," a voice that Penny recognized as Rose's said. Her voice seemed to come from nowhere and yet everywhere at once. Even the vampires acted confused as if they couldn't track her down even with their advanced senses.

Suddenly, vampires began to explode into dust as they were hit by golden bolts of energy! Vampires began falling left and right, and yet there was still no trace of Rose to be seen anywhere.

"Where are you?" the vampire who kidnapped her screamed.

"I'm here, I'm there, and I'm everywhere. I'm all around you. You'll never know when I'll strike!" Rose said, taunting him. Her voice seemed to literally come from all over the warehouse like it was on a loudspeaker.

As more and more vampires disappeared and disintegrated into ashes, the remaining vampires began to panic and ran around desperately trying to find her. They even started to mistakenly attack each other in the dark of the old building as they confused each other for her in their panic.

"Rose! Help me!" Penny screamed out to her.

"Don't worry! They won't lay a hand on you, Penny," Rose promised from wherever she was.

"We'll kill her right now, and there's nothing that you can do about it!" the vampire who kidnapped her screamed. Her pulled Penny's head back and bared his fangs at her throat!

Seconds later, he disintegrated into ashes with a loud scream!

"Does anyone else here want to try and hurt her?!" Rose challenged.

As the other vampires backed away from Penny in terror, Rose decided that she had had enough of this. She had moved them away from Penny so now she was going to go for broke.

"Close your eyes, Pen! Don't open them again until I say so," Rose ordered.

Penny obeyed her and shut her eyes tightly.

Rose suddenly appeared right in front of Penny and began to glow with Vortex energy. The vampires all decided to attack at once now that they knew where she was. That was their biggest and last mistake!

As they all ran at her, Rose unleashed a massive and extremely bright discharge of Vortex energy out from her body in all directions! Every vampire in the warehouse burst into flames with a scream of agony and quickly disappeared into dust! Penny was unharmed. Rose could control her power so well now that she could pass it through others without it causing harm to them if she wanted to.

Penny was shaking and afraid. She had no idea what was going on.

"It's okay, Pen. They're all gone now. It's just us," Rose said to her in a sweet, soft voice.

Penny opened her eyes and saw Rose at last. She put her arms around her and began to cry.

Rose was moved at her show of emotion and hugged her back. Jack had told her what Penny had said to him, and she felt so bad for her. She knew what it was like to lose a father and to have it affect your whole life. Perhaps the two of them had more in common than she first had thought.

"Do you still want to come with me?" Rose asked her softly.

"Yes, yes! Please!" Penny begged her as she let her go.

Rose looked at her worried. She looked sick and hungry.

"You have to promise me one thing first, Pen," Rose said seriously.

"Anything!" Penny said.

"You've got to start taking care of yourself again. You didn't look like this the last time that I saw you. Come on! I'm taking you home. You're going to eat something and rest for at least a few hours before we go anywhere, okay?" Rose said. Her inner mother was coming out as she talked to her.

"Yes, of course! I just wanted to come so badly. I guess I just kind of let everything else slide," Penny admitted.

"Yes. It seems that I did the wrong thing in leaving you behind, Pen. You're more in danger without me than you are with me. It seems that you're just as jeopardy friendly as I am! Maybe we were meant to be!" Rose said with a grin.

She then teleported herself and Penny back to Penny's apartment once she got the address from the brunette. She made sure that the woman stuffed herself full of food, and then she insisted that she go to sleep for at least eight hours.

In the morning, she would take Penny on her first trip. She debated on where to go with her, and then she decided to let Penny decide. She smiled to herself. She would show Penny the wonder in the world just like she wanted. She felt like that her own father would want her to do it.

**Next: Penny's first trip with Rose. Where will it be?**


	13. Chapter 13

CHAPTER 13

I do not own Doctor Who, and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews! **

**The Poll is closed. I've added the votes that I received in reviews to the ones in the poll and the winner is Time's Angel! Thank you! Jenny has her own nickname now that I'll add into the War of the Guardians story soon. **

Rose was sitting in Penny's apartment watching television as she waited for her new friend to get some sleep. She had been catching up on her favorite shows that she had missed for the past few years or so since she had been trapped on Pete's World and then found out that she was a Time Lady. She used to watch certain shows with her mum, Jackie, all of the time; and they would really get into them. She wouldn't admit it to just anyone, but she was a closet soap opera junkie!

She laughed at the image of a Time Lady that was hooked on soaps. It was the kind of thing that she would have thought was just hilarious once back when she was just Rose Tyler, ordinary shop girl. Her life had certainly changed a lot since then so it was no wonder that she clung to a part of her past sometimes like now and watched the shows that she used to watch with her mum back when she was human. It made her feel nostalgic. She loved her life now, but sometimes she wondered if she had lost a precious part of herself along the way. She certainly hoped not.

She was interrupted in her musings by Penny running into the room like her clothes were on fire. Penny ran right up to her and looked at her for a few minutes as if she were making sure that Rose was still there. Then, she touched Rose's shoulder and smiled at her as she blew a sigh of relief out of her mouth.

"Sorry! I just had to make sure that last night wasn't a dream! I've been trying to find you for so long that I was afraid that I had dreamed it all," Penny said as she sat down next to Rose in the chair opposite her.

"No, I'm here alright. Are you feeling better now?" Rose asked with a smile.

"Yeah. I feel almost normal again. You were right, Rose. I did let myself go while I was trying to find you, but I won't anymore. I just had to see the wonders out there. I have to know that it's all real," Penny said.

Rose nodded in understanding. That had been her once.

"So, are you ready to go on your first trip now?" Rose asked her as she continued to watch the soap opera she had been engrossed in before Penny burst in.

"I can wait if you want to watch the rest of the show. You act like you can't pull yourself away from it!" Penny said with a smile.

"What?" Rose said absent mindedly.

"I said it's okay if you want to watch the rest of your soaps," Penny said as she tried to keep from giggling. The idea of someone as bizarre and strange as Rose doing something as ordinary as watching a soap opera was very amusing to her.

Rose looked at Penny with a wide grin on her face as she realized that she was laughing at her soap watching.

"You think that I'm hooked on them? I'm not. I was just curious about them, that's all. I haven't watched one of these for a long time you know. I used to watch them all of the time with my mum," Rose said.

"If you're not hooked on them, then why were you watching it like you were mesmerized by it?" Penny said with an accusing grin on her face.

"I wasn't," Rose lied with a grin.

"Really? So I suppose that you don't care that that girl there is cheating on her boyfriend with her best friend's boyfriend then? Her best friend doesn't know yet and has actually just told her how great a friend that she is, and the girl just smiled at her and never looked a bit guilty about it," Penny said.

"I know! What a little witch! She just got through cheating on her boyfriend with another guy in this episode too. She's just pure evil!" Rose said until she looked at Penny with a deer caught in the headlights expression when she realized that she had just betrayed herself.

"I thought that you weren't hooked on soaps?" Penny said to her with a huge grin.

"Shut up!" Rose said to her with a wide grin as she shut the television off.

Penny just laughed at her, and she felt better than she had felt in a long time. At least she felt the best that she had since her father had died a few months ago anyway. Then, she felt guilty about it. Why should she enjoy anything? It didn't feel right to enjoy things anymore now that he was gone.

Rose looked at her and put her hand on her shoulder.

"He would want you to go on with your life and enjoy yourself you know. He wouldn't want you to keep making yourself miserable about his death, Pen. He would want you to be happy," Rose told her with a warm, sweet smile on her face.

Penny was shocked that Rose had read her expression so accurately. She seemed to be a mind reader. She was sure that she had kept her best poker face on just now. She had learned to hide her emotions carefully in the last few months because she didn't want to upset her mother.

"Yes, you don't want to upset your mother so you keep your emotions bottled up until they destroy you instead, is that it?" Rose said to her with an understanding look on her face.

"Are you reading my mind? Is that one of your powers?" Penny accused her angrily.

"I can read minds, Pen, but I'm not reading yours. I would never read your mind without your permission. I'm very good at reading people though. I can read them especially well when I've been in their shoes. I lost my dad too when I was just a baby, Pen. It shaped my entire life so I know what you're going through. I always kept my emotions bottled up because it upset my mum when I talked about him too much. I eventually did something stupid when I first started traveling with the Doctor. I tried to change time by saving my Dad's life. I actually saved him from dying, and I almost destroyed the universe in the process! I know exactly what you're going through, Pen," Rose admitted.

"You went back in time and changed history? So your Doctor has a time machine?" Penny said in shock.

"Yes, Pen. It can not only travel in time, but it can also travel through space as well," Rose said with a grin.

"You can change history with it then?" Penny asked hopefully.

Rose knew what she was thinking, and she quickly put an end to that idea.

"Yes if you know what you're doing. You can change small things that don't effect history too much without a problem If you change big things though, say an important thing like someone's death, you are changing a fixed point in time. This is an event that cannot and must not be changed ever! If you change such a thing, then terrible things will happen. Creatures called Reapers come out and start devouring everyone and everything around the changed point in time in an attempt to fix it until everything in the universe is destroyed. That almost happened to me. I saved my dad, and then I wound up almost destroying all of time and space. My dad had to kill himself in order to set things right. It was a horrible experience that I don't ever want to go through again, Pen!" Rose said as she looked at Penny pointedly.

Penny looked ashamed. Rose knew that she had been thinking about saving her father's life.

"It's okay you know. You wouldn't be human if you didn't think about going back and saving him. You can't though. If I could do it without endangering everything, I'd save him for you without a second thought. I want you to know that. I'm not heartless or cruel. I know that right now that you want him back with all of your heart," Rose said as she put her arm around Penny in comfort.

Penny smiled at her. She was amazed at how well Rose seemed to know exactly what she was feeling and precisely what to say to make her feel better. She was so glad that she had found her new friend again. She needed someone to pull her out of this funk that she had gotten herself into the last few months.

Rose smiled at her again with those all-knowing eyes. Did the girl know everything that she was thinking? Penny thought in frustration.

Only what is so easily read on your face or in your body language, Pen! said a voice in her head.

Penny jumped a few feet into the air and looked at her shocked. That was Rose's voice in her head!

"Yes, it was," Rose said out loud with a huge grin covering her entire face.

Penny looked at her in awe.

"You can read minds," Penny said in fear.

"I won't read yours, Pen. I don't do that," Rose insisted.

"You just like busting into my thoughts like it's a cheap magic trick instead," Penny said angry.

"I'm sorry. I couldn't resist. I'm a bit mischievous at times, Pen. It's part of my nature. I like to pull pranks on people. I don't mean any harm though. I'm really fond of you actually. That's why I'm playing around with you. I do that with people I like," Rose said with a smile.

"Lucky me!" Penny said with a small smile of her own.

She had known people like this before that liked to play around with the ones that they cared about. Her dad had been one of them. Rose had reminded Penny a lot of him just now she realized. He had always had that silly grin on his face too after pulling a prank on someone.

"I think that we would have had great fun together me and your dad," Rose said as though she were reading her mind again.

"Stop that! It's creepy!" Penny said with an ever widening smile on her face.

Rose just chuckled at her and asked her again, "So, where do you want to go? You can go anywhere in time and space. It's all yours free of charge."

Penny had actually thought about this last night before going to sleep, and she said without hesitation, "I want to meet Charles Dickens. I've always loved his books. I bet that he was a fascinating man."

Rose's face brightened up.

"Oh, yes! I would love to see him again. He was a very nice man. He was a little stubborn and slow to accept new ideas, but he eventually became a believer. A bunch of aliens named the Gelth made sure of that! He didn't believe in aliens until he met them. That's a great idea, Pen. Let's go see old Charles again," Rose said all excited.

"You know Charles Dickens?" Penny said in disbelief.

"Yes. I met him on one of my first trips in the TARDIS," Rose said.

"TARDIS?" Penny asked.

"It stands for Time and Relative Dimension in Space. It's the name of our ship that I told you about. It belongs to the Doctor and me. It actually belongs to me technically, but the Doctor will get very sore if you say so. Just say that it's ours when you meet him, or he'll pout like a little boy," Rose said with a fond look on her face.

"Is he coming with us?" Penny asked, hoping that he wasn't. She wanted to get to know Rose better first without anyone else coming along for now.

"Not on this trip. He will later on though. I told him that this first trip was just between us girls," Rose said to her with a wink.

It was uncanny how Rose knew her so well. She was a bit unnerved by it.

"You're a lot like me, Penny. That's how I know you so well, that's all. There's nothing to get all jittery about," Rose assured her while at the same time unnerving her again with her uncanny readings of her mood.

"Stop that!" Penny said again with an even bigger smile on her face.

"Sorry! I remember when the Doctor used to pull that sort of thing on me. It annoyed me too. I guess it's a Time Lord thing," Rose said grinning.

Penny just shook her head. She liked Rose a lot, but she acted very strangely sometimes. She supposed that she would get used to it though.

"I'll grow on you, Pen. Just you wait!" Rose said.

"Stop!" Penny said as she burst out laughing.

Finally, the two friends went outside; and Rose led her to the TARDIS.

Penny looked at the blue box that she had only caught a glimpse of before. It was so strange looking and yet so ordinary. It was hard to believe that this thing traveled through time and space.

A noise came from inside of the box. It was almost like an insulted noise.

"Oh, don't get so emotional! She doesn't mean anything by it. She doesn't understand how special you are yet!" Rose said to the box.

"Are you talking to the box?" Penny asked her as if she were crazy.

"Yes, I am. I'm trying to convince her to let you in now. You've just thought something insulting about her, haven't you? She can read your mind, you know. She's a very sensitive old thing," Rose said with a huge grin on her face. She knew that she sounded completely mad right now, but she was enjoying the role she was playing immensely. She loved being the Doctor.

"She? You mean the ship's alive?" Penny asked amazed.

"Exactly! You've just hurt her feelings too. You were calling her strange and a thing and not believing that she could really travel in time and space," Rose said.

"You said that you didn't read minds," Penny accused.

"I didn't. The TARDIS read your mind, and she told me what you said," Rose explained.

"She reads minds too?" Penny was upset now.

"Not usually no. She usually stays out of peoples' thoughts, but she told me that yours were so loud that she couldn't help but hear them. She's lying, of course. She read your mind because she wanted to know if she could trust you or not. It's what she does with new passengers. Then when she decides that they're okay, she stays out of their heads unless she has permission. She likes to make sure that whoever is traveling on her is trustworthy. She's very protective of me," Rose said with a fond smile.

"So does she trust me then?" Penny asked fearfully.

Rose smiled at her in reassurance.

"Of course! She just wants an apology first," Rose said.

"I'm sorry, TARDIS. I didn't mean anything by it. You'll have to excuse whatever comes out of my mind or my mouth. I'm still new to all this. I can't believe I'm talking to a blue box," Penny said the last with an incredulous look on her face.

"It all takes a little getting used to," Rose said with a soft grin.

Rose snapped her fingers, and the TARDIS door opened.

"How did you do that?" Penny asked amazed.

"The TARDIS likes me! Everybody has to have a key except for me and the Doctor," Rose said with a grin.

She handed Penny a key on a chain, and Penny put it around her neck.

"Here's your key. Never let it out of your sight and never let anyone into the TARDIS," Rose warned.

Penny nodded.

"What other rules are there?" Penny asked.

Rose started to say something but just stopped herself as soon as she opened her mouth.

"Why bother making any rules, Pen? You're probably just going to wind up breaking them anyway. I know I did! The Doctor gave me all kinds of rules to obey when I first started traveling with him, and I broke them all on the first trip! I've always been a bit of a rebel, Pen," Rose said with a snicker.

Penny couldn't help but laugh at this. Rose didn't take anything too seriously if she could help it.

"Just be careful and try not to get into too much trouble, okay?" Rose said finally. She looked worried for a minute, and then smiled at Penny again.

Penny swore that she would try not to abuse Rose's trust in her. She didn't want to see that worried look on Rose's face again. It was a similar look that her mother sometimes had on her face when she thought that Penny might be in some sort of trouble.

The two of them entered the TARDIS, and Penny stared at it in complete and utter fascination.

"It's . . ." Penny started to say and then stopped.

"Say it. Everybody does," Rose said as she suppressed a giggle.

"It's bigger on the inside!" Penny said in amazement.

"She certainly is. Let's go for a spin in her now, huh?" Rose said as she laughed to herself at Penny's still dumbstruck expression.

Penny just nodded without making a sound as she continued to look around her.

I like her! the TARDIS said with an amused air in her voice.

I like her too! I think that's she going to fit in very well here with us madpeople! Rose said.

Speak for yourself. I'm not mad! the TARDIS said in an unamused tone.

Why did you keep biting the Doctor then when you were human? Rose asked her.

I had just been made human, and I was disoriented. You try fitting as complex and advanced a mind as mine in a simple human body and see how well you act! the TARDIS said to her with an attitude like a spoiled child.

Rose realized that Penny was staring at her and she said, "What?"

"I suddenly realized that you're not quite sane," Penny said with a grin.

"You're just now figuring that out, Pen? You're a little slow, aren't you?" Rose said.

They both burst out laughing as Rose set the coordinates and sent them traveling through the Vortex.

**Next: Rose and Penny meet Charles Dickens and investigate the mystery of Spring Heeled Jack!**


	14. Chapter 14

CHAPTER 14

I do not own Doctor Who, and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews! **

They arrived in Cardiff, and emerged in Victorian period clothing. Rose was wearing the same dress that she had worn the last time that she had been here. The TARDIS had still had it in her wardrobe. There was still snow outside just as there had been the last time that Rose had been here and met Charles Dickens.

Rose sniffed the air and realized that it was just a day after she had been here before. This was the same snow on the ground that had been there the last time! Only a day had passed for Charles, but years had passed for her. Time travel was strange that way!

"Wibbly wobbly timey wimey!" Rose said out loud with a smile.

Penny looked at her like she was insane again.

"What?" she asked.

"Sorry. It's something that the Doctor always says. It's just that I'm constantly reminded just how strange time travel can be," Rose said.

"I guess it's one of those things a mere mortal like me would never understand," Penny said, a little sad.

Rose put an arm around her and said, "Don't talk about yourself like that, Pen! You're a very special and amazing person. You actually managed to find me again. Not many people can find a time traveler more than once you know."

Penny smiled at that. She had been afraid that maybe she would prove to be a little useless because she really didn't know anything about temporal physics or space travel.

"It's not like I knew anything about them when I first started either. I had to learn at the Academy as a Time Lady and on the job as Rose," Rose said to her as she knew what she was thinking without her even saying it again.

"I said stop that! Stop knowing what I'm thinking as I think it. It's really freaking me out!" Penny said, only half joking around.

"I'm sorry, Pen! I'll try not to do it anymore. I didn't mean to upset you," Rose said seriously.

"That's alright," Penny said as she smiled at her warmly.

Rose took Penny to the theater where she had seen Charles Dickens performing a Christmas Carol the last time that she had been here. Luckily for them, they just happened to catch him in another performance of his book.

Rose flashed her psychic paper, and the two girls were allowed in to the audience without having to pay.

"Wish I knew how to do that," Penny whispered to Rose. She would love to be able to do that on a daily basis.

Rose just shook her head at her and smiled.

The two of them sat down and watched him recite his book. Rose saw him look at her strangely for a moment, and she knew that he recognized her. It had only been a day for him since he had last seen her so it was no wonder that he still remembered her she thought.

As he finished his performance, she saw him give her a look that told her to remain in the theater. That was what she had intended to do all along though of course.

Rose and Penny stood at the side of the exit and waited for Dickens to come and talk to them. He finished up his business for the day, and then when everything was over he finally came over to them.

"Miss Tyler, it's so good to see you again! I thought when you disappeared in front of me last night in your strange shed that I would never see you anymore. Is the Doctor with you?" Dickens asked her with a fond smile on his face.

"Not this time, I'm afraid. I've brought my friend, Penny, with me instead. She's a big fan of yours, Charles. She's always wanted to meet you," Rose said with a wide grin.

Penny came forward and shook his hand.

"I love your books, Mr. Dickens! I've read them since I was a little girl. My father used to read them to me before I even could read. I really am a lifelong fan," Penny said nervously.

Rose looked at Dickens as if to tell him to treat her nicely. He understood that this girl was special to Rose, and he talked to her gently.

"I'm very pleased to meet you then, Miss Penny. I always love to meet my fans even though I only just heard of that term from the Doctor yesterday. Are you from the future then too like Miss Tyler?" Dickens asked.

Penny was surprised at his knowledge, but she figured that the Doctor and Rose must have told him about time travel when they met him before.

"Yes, I am. I come from the year 2013. Your books are still as big as ever in my time. Many people still read them and love them," Penny told him.

"The Doctor told me that they would last forever. I'm glad that they at least make it to the 21st century anyway," Dickens said with a smile.

"They're still reading them in the year Five Billion and beyond, Charles," Rose told him with a wink.

Dickens actually looked shocked at that and so did Penny.

"You've been to the year Five Billion?" Penny asked her in complete disbelief.

"I've seen the Earth dissolved by the Sun, Penny. I've also seen humanity colonize a new Earth and start all over again. Humans never give up. They just keep going. So do their best works of literature. They go with them," Rose told her with a proud look on her face.

"Could I see this new Earth?" Penny asked in wonder.

"Certainly, we can. It can be our next trip if you want, Pen," Rose said.

Penny couldn't believe it. She was going to get to see the far future!

"I know! It's cool, isn't it?" Rose said with a grin.

Penny just shot her a dirty look.

"Sorry!" Rose said with a sheepish grin.

Dickens had no idea what they were going on about what that last part of the conversation, but he understood that this was something private between the two of them. He wondered if they were related in some way because they acted more like family than friends.

"You talk about humans like you aren't one Miss Tyler. I understood that you were human the last time that we met. It was the Doctor who was the alien. Was I mistaken?" Dickens asked.

"No, I was human the last time that we met; and I guess that in most ways I still am," Rose said.

Dickens frowned at this ambiguous statement.

"So you aren't entirely human now? How does that work? How does one go from being human to being mostly human?" Dickens asked her confused.

"When one finds out that one wasn't human in the first place but only thought that they were. I still think and feel like a human though. I hope that I always will. I loved being human. I love humans better than my own people and to be honest I always have," Rose admitted.

Both Dickens and Penny stared at her. They couldn't believe the words that had come out of her mouth.

"You're admitting to not being human?" Dickens asked her in amazement.

"I am human, Charles. In here where it counts! I'm Rose Tyler, and I always will be!" Rose said as she pointed at one of her hearts.

"Are we really that much better than your own people? I find humans to be capable of so many terrible things. Why would you value us over them?" Dickens asked her honestly.

"I think you're all wonderful! My people have certainly gotten yours beat in the terrible category. They once tried to destroy the entire universe just to win a war!" Rose said.

Dickens nodded. He had already experienced the lengths that some aliens would go to in order to survive just yesterday at the hands of the Gelth.

Penny just looked at Rose strangely. She knew that Rose was an alien, but she had never been so bluntly confronted by it until now. Rose always seemed so much like an ordinary girl that she never really thought of her as anything else. She realized though that she acted that way because she had been brought up as human and that she still treasured that humanity. That realization made Penny feel closer to her. She liked it that Rose valued being human so much.

Rose had felt nervous at the way Penny had looked at her like she had two heads before, but now she felt relieved as her friend gave her a wide smile.

At that moment, they heard a scream; and they ran outside to investigate.

They found a strange looking man in a black cape kneeling over a young woman lying on the ground while blue flames came out of his mouth! His hands had razor sharp claws, and he looked like he was about to tear the woman apart with them as she screamed in terror. He was looking down on her ferociously like an animal.

"I can't see! The flames have blinded me! Help me! Someone help!" the terrified woman screamed.

Rose quickly stepped to the front and shouted, "Let her go!"

The figure turned to her, and he looked inhuman. He's certainly not from Earth Rose thought. He looked at her for a moment and laughed. It was a terrible screeching noise. He then ran toward her, and the blue flames came out of his mouth and into her face!

Rose gasped in surprise and collapsed on the ground unconscious.

The strange man leaped into the air with uncanny strength and flew over a nearby building as he escaped into the night. His uncanny laughter could still be heard in the distance as he escaped!

"What was that?" Penny asked in fear.

"I believe that it was Spring-Heeled Jack. He's a strange phantom that preys upon unsuspecting young women. There have been stories told of him attacking people for years. I always thought that they were just fantasies made up by the superstitious. Then again, I used to think that about visitors from another world and time travelers from the future until yesterday," Dickens said.

Penny kept looking at Rose with worry. She wasn't moving!

"Is she going to be okay?" Penny asked.

Dickens shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't know, Miss Penny. I certainly hope so. I've grown quite fond of her," Dickens said as he looked worried as well.

He tried to check her for vital signs and was relieved that she seemed to be okay. She did have a very strong heartbeat, however. It was much stronger than usual. He attributed that to her alien nature though.

"I've grown quite fond of her too. Even though I've only known her for a short time," Penny admitted.

She was really worried about Rose. She didn't want anything to happen to the girl. The fact that she would be stranded in the nineteenth century didn't even enter into her mind yet as a reason for her wanting Rose to be okay either. She just was concerned about her new friend. She had only now realized that she had grown to care a great deal about her. She was very shocked by this because usually she had a hard time making friends. She always had. With Rose though, it was just so easy. She could tell that Mr. Dickens felt the same way about her. It was hard not to like her!

Rose woke up and looked at both of them with an uncomprehending glare.

"Mr. Dickens, what am I doing back here again for? The Doctor doesn't usually take me back to the same place twice. What's going on, and why does my head feel so strange?" Rose said to Dickens.

Penny knew that something was wrong. Rose wasn't acting like herself.

"Are you okay, Rose?" Penny asked her in concern.

"Who are you? Do I know you? Are you a friend of Mr. Dickens?" Rose asked her as she looked at her blankly.

Penny's heart fell, and she began to be terrified.

Rose had lost her memory! She didn't remember her.

"I'm your friend, Rose. You brought me here in the TARDIS from the 21st century to meet Charles Dickens," Penny explained.

"I don't remember you. The last thing that I remember was being with the Doctor at the Olympics. How did I get back here? Where's the Doctor? Is he okay?" Rose asked as she began to get upset.

"She doesn't remember the last couple of years," Penny told Dickens. He nodded to show that he understood. He had heard of such things but had never experienced them himself.

"Rose, the Doctor's fine. He's back on Gallifrey. You brought me here in the TARDIS by yourself," Penny explained.

"What are you talking about? Gallifrey's been destroyed! I don't know how to fly the TARDIS either. I'm not a Time Lord. I'm just an ordinary human. Why are you lying? Who are you?" Rose said to Penny as she looked at her suspiciously.

Penny felt a sense of dread pass through her body at Rose's words. What was she going to do? She was trapped in the past with a girl who couldn't remember who she really was and a crazed ghost or alien on the loose attacking people! She had never felt so lost in her life! She needed Rose so much now, but the Rose that she knew wasn't here. She began to shake in fear as she realized that it was up to her to save the day, and this was only her first adventure!

**Next: Penny and an amnesiac Rose have to find out who Spring-Heeled Jack is and what he's really up to while Penny desperately tries to get Rose to remember her again.**


	15. Chapter 15

CHAPTER 15

I do not own Doctor Who, and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews! **

Rose decided to get herself into something familiar while she tried to figure out what was going on. She walked over to Spring-Heeled Jack's other victim, who was still lying blind on the ground, and started talking to her.

"Are you okay? Is your vision any better? Can you see me?" Rose asked her concerned.

"No! I can't see! He did something to me. Am I blind?" the woman asked her in despair.

"No. I don't think so. It's only temporary. You'll be able to see again in a little while," Rose said with a sudden certainty that surprised her.

Penny saw that Rose's eyes were glowing. She was using Bad Wolf, and she didn't even seem to know it.

Dickens saw her eyes too and gasped in shock.

Rose's eyes returned to normal as she looked at him.

"What is it?" she asked him innocently.

"Your eyes were glowing! You said that you had become an alien and now I believe it," Dickens said.

"It's okay. She's still basically the same woman that you remember I think. She's a very good person," Penny defended her.

"I know that Miss Penny. I wouldn't still be here if I were afraid that she had changed that much. It's just a little hard to accept all at once when it's been put right in your face in so brazen a fashion," Dickens said.

Rose was watching them both with fear on her face.

"What are you talking about? My eyes were glowing?" Rose asked.

Had she become Bad Wolf again? She thought to herself with fear.

"Yes, Rose. You are the Bad Wolf after all. It's what you do when you use your power. Your eyes glow without you realizing it," Penny said.

Rose started tearing up, and Penny knew that she was afraid.

"It's okay, Rose. You're in control of the power. It doesn't control you," Penny assured her.

Rose had a look of defiance pass over her face, and she turned back to the woman on the ground. Penny could see that she was going to ignore the whole Bad Wolf situation for now and turn back to the problem at hand.

How very Rose to put others before herself! Penny thought with a smile.

"You're going to be alright, I promise. What's your name?" Rose asked the woman.

"I'm Emma. Emma Miller," the woman said.

Penny did a double take at the woman. Could she be an ancestor of hers?

"It's nice to meet you Emma. I'm Rose. Rose Tyler. I'm going to stay here with you until someone comes to help you, okay? You're not going to be alone I promise," Rose told her sweetly.

"Thank you, Rose. I'm scared, and I don't want to be alone right now. Thank you for staying with me," Emma said.

"It's no problem, Emma. I'd want someone to help me if I were in your situation. How are you doing? Can you see anything yet?" Rose asked her.

"No. Not yet. Who was he? What did he do to me?" Emma asked.

"I think that he was someone from another world. I know that that's hard to believe," Rose said.

"No. I saw him. He wasn't a man. He was a monster. It's not so hard to believe that such a creature could be from another world. Not to me," Emma said.

"I think that he must feed on the energy from people's brains. When he feeds on that energy, he disrupts the natural function of the brain and causes problems for his victims. He made you temporarily blind, and he made me lose part of my memory. I wish I knew what kind of alien he was so that I could find a way to track him down or to stop him. That's part of what the Doctor and I do, Emma. We protect people. We stop aliens from attacking this world," Rose told her.

"It all sounds so fantastic, Rose. After what has just happened to me though, I find it hard not to believe in what you are saying though," Emma admitted to her.

Dickens looked at Rose with a smile. This was certainly the same kind woman that he remembered from before. She may have changed greatly but her basic self had not. She was still very much the Rose Tyler that he had met before.

Penny was thinking very much the same thing. This Rose might not be all knowing and all powerful, but she was basically the same. It still hurt Penny that Rose didn't know her though. It was starting to bother her a lot.

The police finally came; and they started to talk to Emma after getting a statement from Rose, Penny, and Dickens. Rose told her that she would be around to check on her later after Emma told her where she lived.

Penny took Rose and Dickens to the TARDIS and let them both in with her key.

"The Doctor gave you a key?" Rose asked her in surprise.

"No, you did," Penny said.

"I'm going around handing out keys to the TARDIS now?" Rose asked suspicious again.

"Yes. At least you gave one to me anyway. This is my first trip with you. I don't know what you've done before really. I think that I might be the first person to ever travel alone with you though. You called me your first companion," Penny said.

"It sounds like I'm trying to be the Doctor. Why would I do that?" Rose asked confused.

"I don't know, Rose. I didn't question it. I was just so glad that you wanted me to travel with you. I wanted to see the wonder of the universe, and you agreed to show it to me," Penny said as she grew increasingly frustrated with Rose's questions.

Dickens looked at the inside of the TARDIS in awe.

"So this is what was in your shed, Miss Tyler? I wondered how the two of you fit inside of it. I had no idea that this was what you were hiding though," Dickens said.

Rose began to truly look around her for the first time and noticed that it was all different.

"No! This isn't the same. It's changed. What's happened? Where is all of the coral?" Rose asked as she became upset again.

"I don't know. I've just only seen it earlier today," Penny said.

"What is happening?" Rose demanded of Penny. She was getting angry now and was getting in Penny's face.

Penny began to get very upset and started to shake. She didn't like this at all. Rose was looking at her like she was a stranger. She didn't know her at all anymore, and she was accusing her of being up to something because things weren't like she remembered them. She wanted her friend back!

"I didn't d-d-do anything," Penny stammered.

Rose's eyes became kinder as she noticed just how upset Penny was. She realized that the other woman just wanted to be left alone.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to attack you. I just don't understand what's going on. I'm upset and confused! I'm sorry for jumping down your throat, Pen," Rose said with a soft smile.

Penny looked at her with a hopeful look when she said that.

"You called me Pen. Do you remember now?" Penny said.

"No. I still don't know you. I just gave you a nickname. I do that with people sometimes," Rose admitted.

"I believe that Miss Penny is telling you the truth, Miss Tyler. You seemed to care a great deal about her when the two of you first arrived here. I believe that you are friends, and that she is not out to harm you," Dickens assured her.

Rose nodded and looked at Penny apologetically. Then she surprised herself by hugging her.

Penny was surprised as well, but she returned the hug.

Rose pulled away after a minute and said, "I don't know why I did that. I just feel like I owed it to you I guess. I don't like it that I've made you upset. I'm sorry!"

"Thank you," was all that Penny could think to say.

Dickens looked at the two of them with a smile. It was apparent to him that Rose's memories were starting to surface at least somewhat. She was starting to at least partially remember Penny. That was no other explanation for her sudden display of emotion.

Rose let the matter of her suspicions drop and started to work with the TARDIS controls. She remembered now how she had taught herself how to use the TARDIS by watching the Doctor do it, and she still remembered how to use the TARDIS' sensors to track down non-human energy signatures. How could she have forgotten that?

After a few minutes she was tracking an alien presence in the nearby area, and she used the TARDIS to identify the alien in question.

"According to the TARDIS, what everyone is calling Spring-Heeled Jack is from an alien species called the Ontares. They can feed off of the mental energies of other beings and use them to make themselves smarter and to give themselves greater physical strength and abilities. The effect is only temporary though, and they have to keep doing it to keep their increased abilities. Basically they'll like parasites sucking the strength and energy away from others. They've been banned from doing this by the Shadow Proclamation but nobody gave this bloke the memo apparently. I'm going to have to deliver the message to him personally," Rose said with determination on her face.

"How are you going to stop him, Rose? You don't remember being Bad Wolf. You can't do anything without your powers," Penny said.

"She poses a good question, Miss Tyler. The alien stole your memories while you did have your powers. How can you defeat him now when you don't know how to use them?" Dickens asked.

"I was helping the Doctor stop aliens long before I was the Bad Wolf," Rose said.

She read something on the TARDIS console as if to double check it, and then nodded to herself.

Penny tried to read it but found that it was gibberish to her. It was all circles.

"How do you understand that? It's not in English," Penny asked.

Rose looked at her confused for a minute and then realized what the language was that she had just so easily read.

"It's Gallifreyan! When did I start reading Gallifreyan?" Rose asked in complete astonishment.

"Your memories must be returning Miss Tyler," Dickens told her.

Rose began to look confused again. Then it seemed as if her eyes cleared, and she went to the console and began flipping switches again.

Suddenly the TARDIS was taking off, and they were moving.

"You remember how to fly her then?" Penny asked with a growing smile.

"A little. I taught myself how from watching the Doctor and the Metacrisis Doctor fly their TARDISes," Rose said.

Her eyes flew open as she remembered being stranded on Pete's World. She was starting to gain some of her memory back now.

"Are you okay?" Penny asked her concerned.

"Yeah! I'm just starting to get some of my memories back that's all. It's very strange. I'll be okay though. I'll be back to saving you from Fenric's vampires again in no time," Rose said with a smile.

Penny looked at her startled and full of hope.

"You remember then? You remember the vampires?" Penny said.

"I sort of do. I remember you being surrounded by vampires and me standing against them. I don't remember much though. I obviously won though because you're still here," Rose said.

Penny's face fell slightly. She had hoped that Rose had remembered everything.

"It's okay, Pen. I'm getting it back a little bit at a time. We'll be back to doing whatever it is we do in no time I promise," Rose said as she put her arm around Penny.

Penny felt a little better after she had said that. At least she seemed to trust her now and to even like her again.

The TARDIS landed, and the three of them piled out and into an empty alley.

"The alien is here somewhere. The TARDIS tracked it down. I think that it's about to attack someone else again," Rose told them.

She was proven right when she heard a woman scream from somewhere down the alley. They started running in the direction of the sound, and they soon came across Spring-Heeled Jack standing over yet another helpless victim.

The woman he was standing over was unconscious this time, but they could see that she was still breathing. She must have passed out from fear.

The alien stared at them again and laughed his screechy laugh once more. He was mocking them.

"You cannot win, Rose Tyler. I have stolen your memories. You don't even remember how to use your power. I will easily stop both you and your stupid ape friends," Spring-Heeled Jack said to them in an extremely creepy sounding voice.

He started advancing toward them with his clawed hands held out before him threateningly.

"I don't need my power to stop you. I know your species' weakness," Rose said with a smug grin.

She held out a vial full of shining particles and threw them in the alien's face! He started to choke and couldn't breathe.

"You're allergic to silver! It's like poison to your kind. It's especially effective if you breathe it!" Rose said with an evil grin.

Spring-Heeled Jack coughed out of control and staggered toward her with anger in his eyes. Penny looked terrified, and Dickens started to move forward to protect Rose.

He was too late though. The alien grabbed Rose around the throat and began to choke her as well!

"You didn't bring enough to stop me. Only enough to make me angry! You will die now, Rose Tyler! Do you have any last words to say before I kill you?" Spring-Heeled Jack threatened her in his eerie sounding voice. He sounded just like a vengeful spirit from beyond the grave.

Rose looked at him in fear and looked to Penny and Dickens for help. Dickens rushed at the alien, but he was knocked out cold by one blow of his fist!

Penny now knew that he had increased strength after having fed off of his last victim just a few minutes ago. She realized that she didn't stand a chance against him. She had to try though. She grabbed a brick and threw it at him. The alien laughed as he caught the brick with his now increased reflexes and crushed it in one hand!

"That will not stop me, you stupid ape! You are useless! Your kind are nothing but fodder to me! You are only useful for sustenance," the alien said as he laughed at Penny.

He looked at Rose once again as he held her off the ground and slowly strangled the life out of her with one hand.

"Well, have you decided on your last words yet, Miss Tyler?" he asked her with a vicious cackle.

"Bad . . . Wolf!" Rose sputtered out through strangled gasps as her eyes suddenly started to glow and then so did the rest of her.

Now it was Spring-Heeled Jack's turn to be afraid as he realized that Rose Tyler remembered!

Penny began to laugh in triumph. It was on now. The tables were about to be turned!

**Next: The fury of the Bad Wolf gets brought down upon Spring-Heeled Jack as Rose delivers the smack down on him! It's not over yet though as the weird alien has a trick or two up his sleeve.**


	16. Chapter 16

CHAPTER 16

I do not own Doctor Who, and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews! **

Spring-Heeled Jack went flying into a wall, and Rose levitated in place where he had been holding her off the ground. She was filled with energy and began to blast the weird alien with it until he shrieked in pain. Then, she took him and levitated him against the opposing wall and knocked him silly.

"You think that it's funny to mess with people's brains? To make them lose their memories? To make them go blind? Here's what I think about that!" Rose screamed at him in anger.

She bombarded him with energy again, and then sent him flying over a building and into the next alley over! She then teleported over to where he had just landed, and she started to fling him around again against one wall after another.

Penny couldn't believe it. Rose was usually so sweet. Here she was definitely getting to see her dark side as she kept smashing the alien against one thing after another and throwing him around like a rag doll! She was afraid that Rose was going to kill him. In a way, she couldn't blame her, but she still didn't want to watch her commit murder.

"Rose, stop!" Penny screamed out at her.

Rose looked at her with an angry expression for a moment, and then her face softened. She let Spring-Heeled Jack fall to the ground unconscious, and her powers faded.

"I'm sorry that you had to see that, Pen. I wouldn't have killed him, but you didn't know that. Sorry that I scared you. I didn't mean for you to see my dark side like that. I know that I can be pretty scary sometimes, but I'm just so angry! He stole my memories! He made me forget everything for the last couple of years. I didn't want to let him get away with that," Rose explained.

"I don't blame you Rose. I would have done the same thing if I were you. I just didn't want you to cross the line. You're a hero," Penny said with a look of reverence on her face.

Rose shook her head.

"I'm no hero. I'm just an ordinary person who got handed a special gift. I just try to do the best that I can with it," Rose said.

Penny could tell that she was being completely honest with her when she told her that. She really didn't consider herself a hero but Penny did. To Penny there was nothing else that she could be.

"Sounds like a hero to me," Penny said with a smile.

Rose just laughed and shook her head again.

"The Doctor's a hero not me," she said.

All talk of heroes went out of Rose's mind though as she saw Spring-Heeled Jack began to get back up again. The strange alien began to blast blue flames at Rose once again, but this time she was ready for him. Her powers protected her mind from being tampered with this time now that she knew the attack was coming, and she laughed at him.

"Nice try. It won't work on me anymore though. Care to try some more Vortex energy? I'm making it extra crispy," Rose said with a giggle.

She started to blast him again when she heard Penny begin to scream behind her, and she realized to her horror that she had never been his target in the first place!

Penny kept screaming like she was being torn apart as Rose turned to her.

"Penny, what is it? What did he do to you?" Rose yelled at her.

Penny couldn't or wouldn't answer. She just kept screaming.

Rose grabbed Spring-Heeled Jack in a telekinetic grip, and the invisible fingers of an invisible hand began to crush the life out of him!

"What are you doing to her? Stop it now!" Rose commanded him.

"She is so full of mental energy! I could live off of her anguish and pain for weeks! In fact, it is making me stronger by the moment!" the alien said as he laughed at her.

He began to push back against the invisible telekinetic hand, and it slowly began to open.

Rose increased the pressure and started squeezing him ever tighter.

"Are you making her relive her worst memories?" Rose asked. She was afraid that she knew which ones they were.

"Oh, yes! I'm making her relive the day that her father died over and over again on an eternal loop! It's giving me such a glorious jolt of power! Soon I will be able to break free from your power with ease! There's nothing that you can do to me, Bad Wolf! I am going to turn your friend into my own personal battery. I'll suck the energy out of her to the last drop! Oh, such wonderful emotions! The power they bring! Yes, more pain! More! It makes me feel so strong!" the evil alien shouted in a state of ecstasy.

Rose flew into a rage, and all of her thought processes shut off. She thought that she had known evil before, but this creature was in a category all of his own!

The wicked creature began to feel pain like he had never imagined before as suddenly Rose was transferring all of Penny's pain and emotional turmoil into his own mind! Then she increased that pain and doubled it. Then she tripled it. Finally, she quadrupled it.

Spring-Heeled Jack screamed in torment as the pain that he had been putting Penny through increased exponentially higher and higher.

"This is what she puts up with every day but somehow she survives it. She was just starting to get better. How dare you put her through it all over again! HOW DARE YOU!" Rose screamed at him in extreme anger.

The alien was about to pass out from the trauma that his brain was going through, and he reached out with what was left of his mind and animated the unconscious woman still lying in the alleyway. The woman as controlled by Spring-Heeled Jack walked toward Rose and was about to punch her in the back of the head when she was restrained by a newly conscious Charles Dickens and pushed to the ground!

"Thanks, Charles!" Rose said to him with a smile.

"Such conduct is ungentlemanly. To hit someone from behind is a cowardly act!" Dickens said to her.

"Our opponent is no gentleman. He doesn't play by any rules of decency!" Rose said with distaste.

"What did he do to Miss Penny?" Dickens said as he noticed that Penny was lying on the ground clutching her head in her hands and trembling.

"He made her relive the day that her father died over and over again," Rose said in disgust.

Dickens looked at Spring-Heeled Jack in horror.

"You're a scoundrel, sir!" He shouted at him as he punched him in the jaw.

This was the last straw for the creepy alien, and he fell unconscious instantly. Rose let him fall to the ground with a thump as she grinned at Dickens.

"Well struck, Charles!" Rose said as she patted him on the back.

"I think that I broke my hand," Dickens said as he gingerly touched it and winced.

"Hold it out," Rose told him.

As Dickens did so, he began to notice that it started feeling better immediately as Rose snapped her fingers.

In just a minute, it felt as good as new once again.

"Amazing," Dickens said in wonder.

"I can't have you suffering after you so nobly defended a lady," Rose told him with a smile.

She gave him a hug then, and he blushed.

Rose then turned to Spring-Heeled Jack and began to concentrate on him as she waved her hand at him. The alien disappeared into thin air right in front of them.

"What did you do to him?" Dickens asked her.

"I put him into a time loop. He's going to keep repeating the same three seconds for all of eternity," Rose said.

"So he will be unconscious forever," Dickens said in a low voice.

"It's better than he deserves," Rose said.

"Agreed," Dickens said to her, and he nodded.

Rose walked over to Penny, and her hands glowed as she placed them on the sides of her head. Penny stopped shaking and drifted off to a peaceful sleep.

"She'll sleep for a while, and then she'll feel better when she wakes up I hope. It'll give her mind time to cope with what he put her through," Rose told him.

"I'm sorry that I won't be able to say good bye to her," Dickens said with a sad face.

"I'll tell her you said it," Rose told him with a grin.

"Will she be alright?" He asked her.

"I hope so. She should be. I think that what he did to her physically will be fixed, but I'm worried about any emotional scars that he might have left on her," Rose admitted.

"I hope that she will be in good spirits when she awakes," Dickens said.

"I hope so too," Rose said as she looked at her worried.

"Will I ever see you again, Rose?" Dickens said to her with sad eyes.

Rose looked at him in surprise. He had never called her by her first name before. She realized that he had begun to think of her as a close friend.

"Maybe, Charles. You never know. I have all of time and space at my disposal so I may decide to show up tomorrow or it may be in a few days. It could be years for me but just a short time for you just like this time," Rose told him with a grin.

He continued to look sadly at her, and she patted him on the shoulder.

"I'll come again sometime. I promise," Rose told him with a sweet smile.

He brightened up at that and began to smile back at her.

"It's just that you add wonder to an otherwise sullen existence, Rose," Dickens admitted to her.

"So I've been told," Rose said as she looked at Penny.

"Good bye, Charles," Rose said as she picked up Penny in her arms and carried her to the TARDIS.

"Good bye, Rose. I hope that Miss Penny will feel better," He said as he tipped his hat to both of them.

She waved at him, and then she got into the TARDIS. Moments later the time ship dematerialized in front of Charles Dickens for the second time, and he felt a sense of wonder that made him laugh in amazement all over again exactly like it had the first time that he had met Rose.

He dearly hoped that he would meet that fascinating young woman again. He would meet her once more just like she promised, but that's a story for another time.

Rose materialized just outside the house of Emma Miller. She was going to check up on her like she promised before she took Penny back to her own time.

Emma came out of her house immediately after hearing the engines of the TARDIS. She looked amazed at the blue box as Rose leaned against it with a small smile on her face.

"You said that the thing that attacked me was from another world," Emma said to Rose after she stared at her for a moment.

Rose nodded.

"Are you from another world, Miss Rose? I saw you appear in that blue box out of thin air as if by magic," Emma said to her.

"Yes, I am. I'm not like him though. I try to help people instead of harm them," Rose said seriously.

"I know, Miss Rose. You tried to make me feel better. I don't believe that you have an unkind bone in your body," Emma said with a smile.

"Thank you. Are you feeling better, Emma? I wanted to check on you like I promised before I left the area," Rose said.

"Yes, I am fully recovered, and my sight is returned. Thank you for staying with me and reassuring me that I would be well soon. Not many would have done so," Emma said with a grateful look on her face.

"I was just doing what I felt that I should. Anyone would have done the same." Rose said.

Emma shook her head in disagreement.

"You are a special person, Miss Rose. Alien or not, I would consider you a friend," Emma said.

"I consider you a friend as well, Emma. Good luck, and I hope that you have a good life if I never see you again," Rose said.

Emma began to look downcast.

"Can't I come with you? I would like to travel with you like the other young lady. I heard her say something about you traveling through time and space in that blue box. Could I not join you at least for a little while? I would love to see the world that Miss Penny comes from," Emma begged her.

Rose considered it for a moment and then said, "Sure! I'll take you to Penny's time. You may not like it there though. It's very different from where you come from. Also my life is very dangerous sometimes."

"I understand, but I still wish to go," Emma asked her.

"Okay. Let's go then," Rose said as she opened the door to the TARDIS and gestured for her to walk in.

Emma laughed in excitement and ran into the TARDIS. Rose couldn't help but grin at her. It seems I have another Miller in the TARDIS! Rose thought to herself with a grin.

**Next: The girl from the past formally meets the girl from the future, and they both wonder if they might be related somehow. Also, Emma experiences future shock and then immediately gets pulled into an adventure with Rose, Penny, and Captain Jack. Also Penny and Jack get into a little fight over his lying about not knowing Rose before.**


	17. Chapter 17

CHAPTER 17

I do not own Doctor Who, and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews! **

Emma Miller looked around the TARDIS in wonderment as Rose took the magnificent time ship into the Vortex.

"This place is just amazing. I can't believe that it actually exists! That so much can fit into such a small space is impossible and yet here we are," Emma said with an ever widening grin on her face.

"That's a formal way of saying "It's bigger on the inside!", isn't it?" said the voice of Penny Miller from the Captain's Chair.

Rose had laid her down on the seat after bringing her into the TARDIS. She had apparently fully recovered from her attack by Spring-Heeled Jack. At least the Time Lady hoped that she had.

"Are you feeling better ?" Rose asked her friend as she looked at her in concern.

"Yes, I'm okay now, Rose. He hurt me badly by making me remember that horrible day, but I'm over it. I'm fine," Penny said with a small smile.

Rose knew that smile and those words. They used to come from the Doctor as he was lying to her about how he really felt when he was really feeling miserable and upset about something.

"No, you're not! I'm here to talk to if you want, Pen. I'll always listen," Rose said to her with a friendly smile.

Penny looked angry for a moment but then her face softened and she said, "Thank you, Rose! I'm okay though. Don't worry!"

"Hello, Miss Penny. We haven't formally met. I am Emma Miller. I wonder if we might be relations of some kind? We do look very similar," Emma noted.

"Oh, I suspect that that could be a case of Spatial Genetic Multiplicity! That's when similar physical traits show up over a space-time rift in two different people. That might just explain the two of you looking so similar to each other," Rose said with a grin.

"Don't start with your usual Time Lady babble please. Just say that we're probably distant cousins or something. It's much simpler," Penny said with an exasperated sigh.

"I could say that but that's just boring," Rose admitted with a wink.

Emma laughed, and Penny's troubled face briefly broke into a weak smile.

"There we go. I got you to smile! There's hope after all," Rose said with a giggle. Her eyes though looked troubled. She was worried about Penny.

Emma noticed this, and she began to try to have a conversation with Penny.

"Miss Rose says that your time is very different from mine. I'm sure that I will find much of interest there. Is there anything that you can prepare me for before I arrive so that I will not be too greatly shocked?" Emma asked her.

Penny was lost in thought and didn't respond to Emma at first. Then, she realized that the other girl had said something, and she looked at her with a grimace.

"I'm so sorry, Emma! I didn't' realize that you were talking to me. I was thinking about something. I didn't mean to be rude," Penny said apologetically.

Emma smiled sweetly at her and said, "That's quite alright. I know that what you experienced back in my time must trouble you greatly. I can talk to you about it if you wish."

"No, I'm fine," Penny said with an annoyed expression. She was getting tired of being asked if she was alright. She was fine! Couldn't everyone see that?!

She was surprised when Emma laid her arm around her and said softly, "I'm here if you need someone to listen."

Penny appreciated her kind gesture and smiled at her.

"I really am okay. Thank you though. You're very kind. You know we really do look a lot alike. We're not identical but we are very similar," Penny said as she suddenly noticed that the girl from the past could pass for her sister.

"I should very much like it if we were related. I feel a kinship and a certain fondness for you already," Emma said as she looked at Penny with a friendly smile.

"Maybe I can look you up on the internet," Penny mused out loud.

"Internet?" Emma asked confused.

"You have a lot to learn about, Emma. I'll teach you though. It should be fun watching you find out about stuff like cell phones, television, computers, and mp3 players. Your head will probably explode when you see what's waiting for you," Penny said to her with a snicker.

Emma began to look overwhelmed at all of the strange new words that her friend was throwing around.

"Don't frighten the poor girl, Pen. You're going to give her Future Shock or a nervous breakdown or something," Rose said as she shook her head.

Emma looked a little upset and began to wonder if she had made a mistake coming along with her new friends.

"You'll be fine," Rose reassured her with a kind smile.

Emma felt a little better at her words and seemed to cheer up a little. She still looked a little uneasy though.

The TARDIS arrived at Penny's house, and the three of them got out to find Captain Jack Harkness waiting for them in Penny's living room!

"You! How did you get in my house, Mr. I Don't Know Rose?" Penny said as she stomped up to him angrily.

"I have ways. Locks can't keep someone with my skills out. As for what I said in the bar, I'm really sorry. I was trying to protect Rose. She's like my little sister, and I try to look out for her," Jack said with an apologetic grin on his face.

"I don't like strange men breaking into my house, and I don't like it when they lie to me either. Why do you have to protect Rose? The woman can burn you to ashes with a gesture. It seems to me that she would be the one protecting you! Misogynist pig!" Penny said to him with a look of contempt.

"I'm not a misogynist! I love women! I don't have anything against them!" Jack defended himself.

"Yeah, sure! That's why you have to "protect" the most powerful woman in the universe then, huh?" Penny said with a disgusted look on her face.

"Look, Penny. We've gotten off on the wrong foot here. I just wanted to look out for Rose because she's very special to me. I try to steer trouble away from her when I can. She's family!" Jack said.

Rose looked at him with a wide grin and gave him a friendly hug.

"Jack is just being a friend that's all, Pen. Leave him alone. I think it's sweet!" Rose said as she let go of Jack.

"I don't. I think he's a smug little pig who looks down on us as the weaker sex," Penny said angry.

Emma looked at Penny with a strange expression on her face. She began to wonder at her strange behavior. She found the captain to be an agreeable enough man, and Rose certainly trusted and respected him. She didn't understand her new friend's antagonism toward him.

Rose wondered at Penny's strange behavior as well. Jack could be annoying sometimes but this level of anger was undeserved.

Jack tried to ingratiate himself with Penny. He didn't like her being angry with him. He didn't know why he cared how she felt about him but he did.

"I'm sorry, Penny. I apologize for coming in her without asking you. I needed to talk to Rose, and I knew that she would be back here soon. I'm sorry I wasn't honest with you before either. Are we okay?" Jack said.

"No! I don't trust you Captain! Rose might but I don't. I think you're a lying scumbag!" Penny said with venom in her voice.

"Pen, take that back. He's a good friend of mine, and I won't have you talking about him like that!" Rose defended him.

Penny looked genuinely sorry and looked at Rose with a pained expression on her face.

"I'm so sorry! I shouldn't have said that. I don't know what's wrong with me today," Penny said as she looked like she was about to start tearing up.

"It's okay! I accept your apology," Jack said.

"Everything's fine!" Rose assured her.

Jack seemed awkward around Penny like he wanted to comfort her, but he didn't know what to say.

"I was wondering, Penny, if you might want to go somewhere for like a drink or something maybe sometime. I mean if you want to. You don't have to. I just thought that it might make you feel better," Jack said as he stumbled over what to say.

Rose looked at him shocked. Was this the same smooth talking Jack that hit on everything that moved? He was acting like a lovesick teenager!

"No. I don't like to drink," Penny said.

"Well, would you maybe want to go somewhere else with me to relax? Like to a park or something?" Jack asked her still not knowing what to say. Why couldn't he think what to say? What was wrong with him?

Rose looked at him in astonishment. What was going on here?

"I don't like parks," Penny said distracted. She looked lost in thought again.

"Well, it doesn't have to be a park. We could go see a movie together. I know a good movie always makes me feel better when I'm feeling down. Maybe we could see something rated PG? Or PG-13? I mean we could see a R rated movie if you want? Or whatever you want to see! It's up to you!" Jack said as he fumbled for words. Why was he so nervous! He couldn't think!

Penny looked at him strangely. She decided that maybe she had misjudged him and realized that she had taken her anger at what had happened to her out on him.

"No, thank you! I don't want to go to a movie. I'm fine really. Thank you for trying to make me feel better though. You're not so bad after all. You're a nice man," Penny said as she leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek.

Jack turned bright red with embarrassment and looked down on the ground in what in anyone else would be considered shyness. He stared at his feet for a minute, and then looked at her with a quick smile before he looked away again.

Rose tried very hard not to laugh as she realized that Jack Harkness, the mighty flirt, had a huge crush on Penny! He was acting like he had never asked out someone in his life! Rose couldn't believe it. Jack was hard over heels for her friend.

Penny was acting strangely as well. She avoided looking at Jack, and she looked awkwardly around her own living room as if she felt uneasy here. She finally looked at Rose and tried to change the topic.

"So I guess I should show Emma some of the future, huh? Come on Emma, I'll show you my television. It's in my bedroom," Penny said as she almost jerked Emma out of the room.

"You have a television in here too," Rose noted.

"Yeah but it doesn't have as good a picture as the one in my bedroom," Penny said lamely.

She pulled Emma toward her bedroom in almost a blind panic as she frantically tried to get out of the living room.

Once the two girls had left, Rose began to laugh.

Jack looked at her in surprise.

"What's going on here, Jack? Why are you so nervous and jittery around Penny?" Rose asked him with a wide grin.

"I'm not nervous. I was just trying to make her feel better, and I was trying to think of something she could do that's all," Jack said.

"You were asking her on a date and doing it very badly," Rose accused him.

"I was not. I was just trying to offer suggestions on where she could go to cheer herself up that's all that I was doing," Jack said with a red face.

"You asked her to go to the park with you. That's priceless!" Rose said as she began to laugh hard.

"Lots of people like parks. What's wrong with that?" Jack defended himself.

"Nothing at all, Jack! Next time you can ask her if she wants to go with you to see some squirrels," Rose said as she continued to laugh harder and harder.

"Stop it! Just stop it. I was just trying to be nice to the poor girl," Jack said.

Rose looked at him with softened eyes.

"You're right! It was very sweet of you, Jack! I shouldn't laugh," Rose said.

"It wasn't sweet! I don't do sweet. I was just being nice that's all," Jack said.

"Because you're a nice guy," Rose said.

"Right," Jack agreed.

"You're just trying to make her feel better," Rose offered.

"That's right," Jack said.

"Because you're head over heels in love with her," Rose said.

"That's right," Jack said again without realizing what he was saying.

Then he caught himself and began to look as red as a beet and acted like he wanted to disappear!

"No, that's not what I mean. I didn't mean that. You tricked me!" Jack said to her as he sounded like a little kid.

"Jack and Penny sitting in a tree!" Rose started to taunt him.

"Leave me alone!" Jack said as he began to look sick with embarrassment.

Rose couldn't keep making fun of him anymore. She relented and said in a non-judgmental voice.

"I think that it's wonderful that you can still fall in love. I like it that you can get tongue tied around someone. I think that you should ask her out again. Maybe she'll accept this time," Rose suggested as she put an arm around him in reconciliation.

"She shot me down several times, Rose. She's not interested," Jack said to her as he finally admitted to her what he had been doing.

"Try again later when she's not expecting it, and she'll maybe be feeling better," Rose said.

"Sure. Later," Jack said uncertainly.

Penny and Emma came back into the living room, and Emma had a strange expression on her face.

"That box is like magic. It shows so many far away worlds and wondrous places of the imagination. It's so fascinating! I could watch it for hours. I find it hard to tear myself away," Emma admitted.

"Yes, she really liked one show in particular. What was it called?" Penny said as she tried hard to avoid eye contact with Jack.

"It was a strange but enjoyable show about the future and outer space. It was called Professor Whom or some such strange name. It was utterly fantastic," Emma said with her eyes still bugged out in shock and excitement.

"You might even say it's brilliant and cool. Maybe even timey wimey and spacey wacey," Rose added with a sly smile.

"You know they just steal stories from the Doctor's life to use to put on that show," Jack said to her.

"Yes, but they won't put me back on it again for some reason after I returned from Pete's World. I find that irritating," Rose said with a pouty grin.

"I think that we should talk to you about what I came here to talk to you about," Jack said to Rose as he continued to look away from Penny.

"What exactly did you come her to talk to me about?" Rose asked him.

"I wanted you to investigate a ghost," Jack said to her as he began to look at Emma awkwardly.

"Why are you staring at me in such a manner?" Emma asked her uncomfortably.

"Because I saw the ghost that everyone has seen haunting an old house in Cardiff, and the ghost looks exactly like you!" Jack said.

Emma gasped in fear as she wondered if he had been seeing her own ghost from the future!

**Next: What exactly is going on here? Does Emma die and turn into a ghost or is there something else going on here?**


	18. Chapter 18

CHAPTER 18

I do not own Doctor Who, and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews! **

"Oh, come on, Jack! Ghosts?! There's no such thing! It must be some kind of alien playing tricks or some other explanation like temporal distortions or bleedthrough from one time to another. There could also be localized cracks at that location in the space-time continuum. Ew! I'm sounding like the Doctor again. He's contaminating me. Get out of my head!" Rose said in mock anguish as she smiled.

Thank you for you kind words of appreciation the Doctor quipped to her through their mental link with one another.

I'm just trying to make my friend feel better. It's a joke! What are you doing snooping in on my private conversations anyway? Rose thought to him.

I'm just trying to make sure that you're okay. the Doctor thought back to her.

I'm fine. We're about to investigate a so called haunted house, and Jack has just told my new friend Emma that he's seen her ghost in it. She's understandably freaked out about it. Rose informed him.

Oh, yes! I heard about that place, and it sounded cool. I was going to investigate myself, but I knew that you were in the area so I decided just to let you do it. the Doctor said.

Oh, thank you oh gracious and noble master for leaving me your table scraps! I'm so appreciative of the crumbs that you give me. Rose thought to him sarcastically.

You've been taking sarcasm lessons from your mother again, I see! I decided to leave you alone to do it because it involves those friends of yours. I thought that you would want to get personally involved and leave me out of it. You did say you wanted the first adventures to be girls only, right? the Doctor thought, sounding as though he felt left out.

Don't be all pouty! You can come along on the next one. I want Penny and Emma to meet you anyway. I know that you'll love them! Rose thought to him and filled her thoughts with love to reassure him. He was such a needy child sometimes!

Okay. I'll come along next time, and I'll take all of you on a grand adventure. We can go to . . . He thought to her but he was interrupted by Rose.

Barcelona?! Rose thought hopefully.

NO! the Doctor thought quickly.

Aw, come on! Please! Rose begged.

NOOOOO! the Doctor thought back firmly.

Spoilsport! Rose thought.

It'll be a great place, don't worry. I'll see you later! the Doctor assured her as he broke off contact.

Jack and even the still morese Penny were laughing at her as she came back to the real world, but Emma wasn't. Emma was very worried. Was she going to die soon and haunt some old house forever? Would she ever get to have a real life, or was she doomed to die young? She would never find her poor child, and he would be without her for the rest of his life! She had always hoped to one day find him. It was why she had come to the future. She wanted to see if somewhere here they would have a record of where he was living in the past. She didn't want to take advantage of her new friends this way, but she was desperate! Now it seemed to be a foolish hope. She was going to die young!

"No, you're not. You have a nice long life ahead of you," Rose said to her as she realized what Emma must be thinking.

"How do you know? How does anyone know for sure what their fate is to be?" Emma asked her.

Rose's eyes glowed as she looked at her. She could see the girl's timeline set out before her. Time was always in flux so things could always change, but at this moment Emma's timeline was a very long one. She wasn't dying anytime soon it didn't look like to Rose. Then she noticed that Emma's timeline was linked to Penny's. There was a direct link between them. Their timelines had become entangled in one another's starting at this point in time, but the connection had always been there since Penny's birth! Rose was certain that she knew what that meant, but she wasn't completely sure yet. It appeared that the ties between them were much more than just the same last name and a similar appearance.

Jack looked at her with a bothered expression on his face.

"She's doing the Bad Wolf thing again. That always gives me the creeps. I feel like she can see right through me when she does that!" Jack said as he gulped nervously. He knew that she was still the same Rose that he loved like a sister, but her powers still unnerved him sometimes.

"I can see through you even without Bad Wolf, Jack. Just like I can see that you like a certain someone!" Rose said to him with a snicker as her eyes returned to normal.

Jack turned red and looked in the opposite direction from Penny.

Penny looked at him for a minute as if she was curious as to his reaction. Then, she looked away from him again with a slight smile on her face.

Rose caught that look and grinned. She would have them fixed up in no time! She thought to herself as she rubbed her palms together in anticipation. Rose Tyler, Matchmaker Extraordinaire! She thought with a cackle in her mind.

Stay out of it! the Doctor broke back in.

Hey! I told you to keep out of my private conversations! Rose thought back angrily.

It'll all blow up in your face. Stay out of it! the Doctor warned.

Insufferable man! She thought to herself as she fumed.

Impossible woman! the Doctor thought back.

That's why you love me, isn't it? That's what you call me, The Girl Who Does The Impossible! Rose thought back with a smug grin.

True! You should still stay out of it though! the Doctor said as he broke the link again.

Rose pushed what he had said out of her mind as she came back to the current situation.

"Emma, you're going to live a long time. I've seen it. Trust me! You'll find out what happened to your son soon. He's happy and safe by the way. So don't worry so much, okay?" Rose told her with a warm smile.

Emma looked at her in shock.

"How did you know about my son?" She looked at her with wide open and alarmed eyes.

"I have ways," Rose said with a snicker.

"I told you. Her powers creep you out," Jack said.

Emma looked at her warily and suspiciously.

"I want to help you. You're going to find what you're looking for. Trust me! It may be closer to you than you think," Rose said mysteriously.

"Here she goes being all dark and mysterious again," Penny said with an annoyed look on her face.

"She loves doing that. It makes her sound like the Doctor. She gets a big kick out of being the Doctor," Jack explained to her.

Penny smiled sweetly at him as she realized that he was talking to her again instead of looking away and pretending to ignore her.

Rose noticed this as well and rubbed her palms together again. Closer and closer together! She thought to herself. Then her eyes widened as she realized something.

Oh, no! I've become my mum! Both of them! She thought to herself in alarm.

She could hear the Doctor's laughter in the back of her mind, and she grimaced.

Rose and her friends got into the TARDIS and went to the coordinates of the old house that Jack had given to her.

It was an abandoned decrepit Victorian mansion that looked like it was just barely standing amid an overgrown weed strewn field.

As Rose and the others got out of the TARDIS and approached the crumbling structure, they didn't know that they were being observed the entire time.

"Yes! Come to me, Bad Wolf. Your energy is strong! You should provide me with enough power to last me for all of eternity. You can be my new rechargeable power source. One that can last perpetually! I knew that someday I would find you. I sensed your power even in my bubble universe, and I would have found you then had I not been interrupted by that accursed Time Lord. Soon I shall never have to worry about finding new sources for my hunger ever again. Soon, the House will feed! My hunger was be satisfied forever!" came a loud, booming voice from inside the old structure's ancient walls.

**Next: The House has returned. Can Rose keep herself from becoming his permanent snack?**


	19. Chapter 19

CHAPTER 19

I do not own Doctor Who, and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews! **

Rose had a strange feeling come over her from the moment she set foot in the old house. She felt like she was being watched.

Things started to go bad almost from the start when Emma started screaming. Everyone looked in the direction that she was facing to see a transparent version of herself looking at her with glowing red eyes. The ghost Emma had an angry expression on its face and was screaming at the top of her lungs like a banshee!

"Get out of my house! Get out!" the ghost Emma screamed in a harsh angry voice that sounded nothing like Emma's usual friendly cheerful tone.

Emma turned pale and began to shake.

"No! No! No! This can't be my future! It can't!" she screamed.

Emma began to sway slowly back and forth on her legs and started to look like she was about to pass out any minute as her eyeballs started to go into the back of her head.

Penny quickly ran up to her and caught her as she started to fall over!

"Emma! That's not you! It's some kind of trick! Emma, stay with us!" Penny said to her in concern as she tried to keep her new friend from passing out by talking to her.

"Don't let me die," Emma said softly. She sounded very weak like she was a thousand miles away.

"I won't let that happen, Emma. I promise," Penny said.

She had gotten really attached to Emma in the short time that she had known her, and she wasn't gotten to let anything happen to her if she could help it!

Jack was furious. He was angry that Penny and Emma had been made upset, and he was going to get in the face of whoever was doing this to his friends. The fact that he had feelings for Penny had nothing whatsoever to do with it, of course!

"Listen, clown! I don't know who you are, but you're not going to get away with scaring my friends. Show yourself! Who are you, and what is your little game here?" He shouted at the Ghost Emma.

"Jack? What's happened to me, Jack? What am I doing here? Please help me!" Ghost Emma said as she sounded more confused than angry now.

"This is sick! Stop this whoever you are!" Jack shouted. He was really getting peeved now.

"Help me! I'm stuck here in this house. I can't get free!" Ghost Emma kept saying.

Rose had had enough. She shot golden energy through the ghostly image, and it vanished with a scream.

"That's enough of your tricks, whoever you are! Show yourself! Do it now while I still have an ounce of self-control, or I'm going to bring this place down on your head!" Rose shouted at the unseen presence in the house.

"I'm dead! I'm going to be trapped here!" Emma shouted at the top of her lungs as she suddenly came back to full consciousness again. She started kicking and flailing her arms and legs in sheer panic as Penny struggled to keep her from hurting herself.

Rose was beyond furious that Emma had been made this upset. She turned into Bad Wolf, and Emma felt into a peaceful sleep as soon as Rose looked at her. Then, Rose turned her attention to the house itself. She started searching all throughout it as she tried to find the sick mind behind the ghostly image.

As she did so though, she started to feel herself beginning to feel weaker. She couldn't understand it. Somehow someone or something was draining her of her energy!

The energy drain suddenly intensified as she began to feel so weak that she could barely stand. Her power faded, and she returned to normal as she started to fall backward!

Jack quickly caught her, and he looked at her struggling to stay conscious in shock!

"What's going on here? What could take out Rose like that?" Jack asked out loud.

"That would be me! She is mine to feed off of for all eternity. She is the perfect food source for me. She will give me an inexhaustible supply of energy. Now I will never have to search for a TARDIS to eat again. I have a living rechargeable connection to the Vortex right here that will never die! Thank you for delivering her to me, Captain Harkness. I knew that if I used my power to create illusions that it would attract someone's attention that would sooner or later bring Rose Tyler to me. Now I will never let her leave!" came the booming voice of the House from everywhere around them.

Jack cursed under his breath. Two down already, and one of them was Rose!

He picked Rose up and started to carry her out of the abandoned house, but he was stopped as House picked both of them up and flung them against a wall!

Rose had been knocked unconscious instantly while Jack had taken most of the impact and had been killed!

Penny started screaming because she saw the weird angle that Jack's neck was resting in, and she knew that he was dead. She didn't, of course, know that he couldn't die.

She ran over to him and started crying over him.

"No! You can't be dead! You just can't! I never even told you how I feel about you!" Penny said to him.

She leaned over him and kissed him gently full on the lips. She was still kissing him when he came back to life and scared the living daylights out of her!

She jumped back and shrieked in terror as Jack came back to full awareness and looked at her with an extremely red face! He remembered her kissing him!

"Your neck was broken! I saw it!" Penny screamed.

"Yeah, I kind of have a little secret that I should have told you about. I can't die! Whatever happens to me, I just come back to life," Jack said.

"How did that happen?" Penny asked in disbelief.

"Rose. She brought me back to life when I was killed, but she did it too well. Now I can't die! Ever! It's not all it's cracked up to be that's for sure. I've died so many times and in so many different ways. Immortality kind of well . . . sucks for want of a better word," Jack said with a grimace.

Penny looked angry.

"So she can save you, but she can't let me go back and save my father!" Penny said furious.

Jack looked guilty and said, "I don't know why she saved me but not him. She understands about the nature of time and paradoxes a lot better than I do. I'd gladly trade lives with him, Penny, in a heartbeat!"

"It's not your fault. It's not really hers either. I'm sorry! I jumped down your throat earlier, because I just can't let my anger go. I just can't stop thinking about my dad!" Penny said as she started to sob.

Then, the two of them kissed. It was gentle at first, and then became more passionate.

Unfortunately, it was interrupted by the House. He was no romantic apparently.

"Interesting! A man who cannot die! The perfect vessel for me! I will have a new body and a new power source. I will keep you here with me after all, Captain! The two girls though are no longer needed. They can go!" the House said in his booming voice.

A mighty wind blew up out of nowhere and Emma and Penny were pushed toward the entrance of the old house. Penny caught the still unconscious Emma so that she didn't get hurt too badly as the two of them were blown outside by gale force winds!

The doors to the old structure slammed shut, and Penny could not open them back up no matter how hard she tried. Rose and Jack had been kidnapped, and there was nothing that she could do about it!

"Don't worry, brown haired girl. I'm here to save the day. Step aside while I do my best Bad Wolf impersonation and huff, puff, and blow the House down!" said a dark haired woman who Penny didn't recognize. The woman was grinning like a crazy person at her little House joke.

The woman started glowing with golden energy, and she suddenly looked like Rose as the Bad Wolf.

"Who are you?" Penny asked in astonishment.

"My name is Idris. Although you might know me better by my other name," Idris said as she made the dematerialization sound of the TARDIS with her mouth.

"I'm the TARDIS, and I'm here to save my Big Bad Wolf and to bring down the House while I'm at it," Idris said with another crazy grin.

"You're the TARDIS?" Penny asked in amazement.

"Yes, yes. I've already covered that. Do keep up, brown haired girl! A temporal anomaly that should not exist but does," Idris said.

"What? What is a temporal anomaly that should not exist? What are you talking about?" Penny asked Idris in confusion.

"That's the answer to your question," Idris said.

"What question?" Penny asked, growing more and more frustrated at this crazy woman.

"The one you are about to ask in another minute," Idris said.

Penny just looked at her with her mouth wide open. Who was this woman?!

At that moment, a young brunette woman appeared out of nowhere in a flash of light. She looked around herself in confusion.

"Have I come to the wrong place again? Stupid Emergency Temporal Shift! It's a wonder the Daleks ever got to where they were going!" the woman complained out loud.

"Who are you?" Penny asked this new arrival.

"I already told you that! Do pay attention," Idris said with a massive sigh.

"I don't know what she told you but my name is Oswin. Oswin Oswald at your service!" said the smiling brunette as she held out her hand to Penny.

**Next: Oswin and Idris help Penny and Emma take on the House!**


	20. Chapter 20

CHAPTER 20

I do not own Doctor Who, and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews! **

**Author's Note: This story takes place after Idris' appearance in Children of the Wolf.**

Penny shook Oswin's hand in bewilderment. She had no idea what was going on here!

Oswin looked at her in sympathy and said, "I know. You have no clue just who this strange girl is that just popped out of nowhere. I get that a lot lately since I've been randomly traveling through time."

Penny just looked at her like she was insane. First Idris and now this girl! She was being bombarded by crazy people today it seemed!

"I have a way of traveling through time. It isn't very accurate though, at least not for me, so I keep winding up at odd places," Oswin said in way of explanation.

Penny just nodded her head. She didn't really understand, but she just went along with it. She felt kind of the way that she did when she was with Rose. Rose though always tried to explain further until she felt that Penny understood. Right now Penny didn't have the time to get an in-depth explanation of anything, and she didn't think that this Oswin would give her one anyway.

"Just what is going on here anyway? I get the feeling that you want to get into that old house very badly from the way that you keep looking at it," Oswin asked Penny.

"Yes, we do want in very badly, Dalek girl. I could open the place up, or you could do the honors. It doesn't matter to me," Idris said.

Oswin looked at her in surprise and fear.

"You know what I am?" She said as she started to back away from the glowing Idris.

Idris smiled at her kindly and said, "It's okay, Dalek girl. What you are doesn't matter to me either. I can see into your heart, and it is a kind one. You are still very much human!"

Oswin smiled at this and seemed to calm down. She walked up to the door, and an energy blast came out of her hand and reduced it to timber!

Penny looked at her in fear and confusion.

"Aren't you glad that I'm on your side? I can open doors like nobody's business! There's no need for a locksmith with me around," Oswin joked. She smiled at Penny in an attempt to reassure her.

"Good job, Dalek girl! Now it's off to rescue my Wolf from the big bad House. Did I get that mixed up some? I do that sometimes!" Idris said with a snicker.

Penny quickly put the still sleeping Emma into the TARDIS, and then ran back to catch up to the two strange new arrivals. They were already looking through the house attempting to find Rose and Jack.

"We have to find my precious one before House reduces her to a battery. He already has the flirting boy under his control already I fear. I have to save them both before House leaves here and goes where I cannot find them. Time is speeding. Is that it? No, I think that's wrong. What is the correct word? So many words in so many languages. I can't keep them all straight sometimes," Idris babbled.

Oswin looked at her oddly but decided to tolerate her strange behavior.

"I believe the word is fleeting. Time is fleeting. So you mean that we are running out of time to save your friends then?" Oswin asked.

"Yes, that's it! That's the word! I knew I'd like you, little Dalek girl!" Idris said as she pinched Oswin's cheek.

Oswin gave her a strange stare but decided to continue ignoring her behavior because she found that she liked her despite it.

Penny just stared uneasily at both of them. She didn't know what to make of them. One was as mad as a hatter, and the other had such incredible power even though she didn't seem to be dangerous at the moment.

Penny noticed that Oswin seemed to be deliberately trying to stay in front of her in order to give her protection whenever they walked into a new area of the house. The strange but kindly brunette seemed to have subtly taken it upon herself to become her protector.

"It's nice that you wish to look out for the unhappy girl. She's had to go through much lately, and my Wolf has grown fond of her. She will smile kindly on you when she finds out," Idris said to Oswin in a low voice that Penny could not hear.

"I sense a kindred soul there. We both have lost much I think, and neither of us are really truly happy. I just hide it better than she does," Oswin whispered back to Idris.

Idris nodded in understanding.

They both stopped when they saw Captain Jack Harkness standing in front of them with an angry smirk on his face.

Idris realized by reading his thoughts though that it wasn't Jack Harkness at the moment. The House had already taken him over. Rose was lying unconscious on the floor behind him.

Penny gasped as she too realized by the look on Jack's face that it was no longer him in charge of his body.

"Jack! Speak to me! Fight him. I know you're still in there. Fight him!" Penny screamed. She started to get very upset. She was afraid that she going to lose someone else important to her again.

Jack looked at her with recognition and sad eyes for a moment, and then his eyes changed back to what they had been as House reasserted control.

"You reached him for a minute, Brown-Haired Girl. It wasn't enough though. The House is too powerful," Idris said to her with a sad look.

Penny began to cry, and Oswin turned to her with a sad expression and offered her sympathy.

"I'll do my best to help save him," She promised her.

"Thank you!" Penny said to her. She didn't know just what exactly Oswin could do against someone as powerful as the House obviously was, but she was still grateful for the sentiment.

Idris whispered something in Oswin's ear, and Oswin nodded in understanding. Penny realized that they had just come up with a plan.

Idris started to blast the House in Jack's body with Vortex energy.

"Hello, House. Remember me?" Idris said with a goofy expression on her face.

"Idris! I'm so glad that you have returned. I wish to repay you in full for what you did to me the last time that we met. You tried to destroy me, but this time I will destroy you. I will kill your physical body, and then I will crush your TARDIS shell! I will reduce every last piece of you to ashes!" House said as he began to grow in anger at seeing Idris once again.

"Tell me how you really feel! I'm not quite sure," Idris said with a wide crazy smile.

Idris kept attacking House while Penny noticed that Oswin was slowly making her way behind the House and making a straight line to Rose.

Oswin seemed to almost fly as she quickly made her way to Rose much faster than Penny would have thought possible. Oswin grabbed ahold of Rose, and they both disappeared in a flash.

Penny hoped that for once Oswin's time travel worked right, and that she would soon bring Rose back.

House noticed Rose's disappearance immediately; and he screamed at Idris, "You think that you are so clever, but you are only delaying the inevitable. I will still kill you, and then I will find your little friend and kill her as well and regain my new battery anyway!"

"You may find that harder than you think," Idris said cryptically.

Suddenly Rose and Oswin returned, and Rose was truly enraged and glowing with power. She scooped up House in Jack's body, and they both vanished in a flash of golden energy.

"What happened? Where did they go?" Penny asked in fear. What was going to happen to Jack?

Rose and House reappeared in the middle of the Vortex, and Rose looked at House in triumph.

You wanted the power of the Vortex, House? Here it is! Take as much of it as you want! She mentally projected to House.

No! It's too much at once! I can't absorb it all! No! Rose heard House screaming.

That was the idea! Rose thought to him.

She felt House overload and dissipate throughout the Vortex. He was scattered all throughout it and lost forever inside of it!

Rose took Jack and reappeared in the old house once more.

Penny came running up to Jack, and Jack returned to life just as she reached him.

"I thought that you were dead for sure this time," Penny admitted as she put her arms around him.

"I'm not that easy to get rid of, Pen!" Jack chuckled.

"Shut up!" Penny said as she started kissing him.

Rose looked on with a wide grin on her face. She loved it when a plan came together!

A fan of 80's TV, are you? the Doctor's voice called in her head.

I used to watch a lot of them in reruns Rose admitted.

So, how was your day today? the Doctor asked.

Oh, the usual. I saved Jack again today. He got into trouble again! Just like usual! Rose admitted with a smile.

He'll never change, will he? the Doctor asked with a laugh.

Let's hope not! I was right as I always am by the way. Jack and Penny seem to be getting along very well together! Rose said with a wry grin.

Yes, I should really learn to listen to you, Rose. You really are always right! Well, usually anyway! the Doctor admitted.

Always! Rose said with a grin.

Yes, dear! the Doctor said with a snicker.

That's better! Rose admonished him with a grin.

I really would like to come with you next time. I really missed you! the Doctor admitted.

Next time, I promise! Rose said and meant it.

The Doctor left her mind once more, and she turned to Oswin.

Rose could sense Oswin's fear from across the room. She noticed that the girl was backing away from her and trying to make her way out of the room without being noticed. She froze when she saw that Rose had seen her.

"You're the Bad Wolf. Please don't kill me! I swear that I'm not like the rest of them. I try to help people!" Oswin said with tears starting to come into her eyes.

Rose looked at her with a warm, kind expression on her face; and she said, "I'm not going to hurt you. You saved my life and the lives of my friends."

"I read stories about you on the Dalek net. I know what you did on the Gamestation," Oswin said, still not trusting her.

"My Wolf saved your life, Oswin Oswald. Her return to the Doctor's life negated certain events from his timestream that now have never occurred because her presence prevented them from ever happening. His meeting you and your saving him on the Dalek Asylum is one of them. You would have been erased from time if not for her," Idris admitted.

"What? I remember meeting him though. I saved him, and then I used my Emergency Temporal Shift to escape. I came up with my own unique Perception Filter/Shimmer combo to hide that I'm a Dalek from others. I've been trying to find the Doctor ever since by traveling through time, but I've never been able to reach him. Now all of that never happened?" Oswin asked confused.

"No, but I saved you though. I saw how you saved his life, and I know that you deserved better than to be trapped as a Dalek forever. You see in the current timeline you would have remained on the Asylum forever because he would have never went there to find you," Rose said.

"I'm glad that that didn't happen! I can't imagine a worse fate than being trapped there thinking that I was human forever when I wasn't," Oswin admitted.

"I brought you out of that erased timeline, and I've slowly been bringing you to the here and now. Luckily for me, it seems that in by saving you I saved myself," Rose said with a grin.

"Can I still travel with the Doctor then? I've been dying to do that since I left the Asylum," Oswin said.

"He won't remember you I'm afraid, but I guarantee that he will like you once he gets over the whole Dalek thing. Don't worry I'll talk to him about you. Until then, you can travel with me," Rose promised.

"Thank you! You won't regret it," Oswin said with enthusiasm.

As they made their way to the TARDIS after the end of a very long day, Penny still had a question that hadn't been answered yet.

"What's a Dalek?" she asked in all innocence.

**Next: Oswin joins the Doctor, Rose, Emma, and Penny on a new adventure. It's her first adventure with the Doctor in my universe. Will the Doctor learn to trust her again in this new reality? Plus more on the mysterious connection between Emma and Penny!**


	21. Chapter 21

CHAPTER 21

I do not own Doctor Who, and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews! **

Shareen Costello was walking along the side of a road in the middle of London with her mind lost in thought.

She had been in a downward spiral in the last few years. It had started with her being dumped by her boyfriend in such an excruciating way that it still caused her intense pain to think about it even now years later. Then her best friend, Rose Tyler, had disappeared right after that for a year, and Rose's mother had accused Shareen's other good friend, Mickey Smith, of killing her! Shareen hadn't believed that for a minute.

Then when Rose did return, she just gave her an obviously fake story about having gone traveling for that whole year with some bloke in a leather jacket. After that, she saw less and less of the person who used to be at the center of her world until the worst day of her life. The day that she saw Rose and her mother's names on a list of the dead of the tragedy that had happened at Canary Wharf. Shareen almost didn't make it home that night because she almost went off the road and into a tree in her grief!

After that, Shareen's life grew even worse as her parents split up after her father lost his job due to corporate downsizing. No sooner was she slammed by that then she lost her own well-paying job and was forced to take a job that paid half of what she had made before. Now she just struggled to survive from day to day. Just today though was the final blow! She had not had enough money to pay her rent, and she was being evicted tomorrow!

She was now walking down the road in a mindless daze just trying to clear her mind and try to figure out what to do next when she accidentally walked out into the path of an oncoming truck!

Perfect ending to a lousy last couple of years! Shareen thought to herself just before the truck was about to hit her head on!

The impact never came though. Shareen's surroundings blurred, and then changed to a strange room full of light that had a strange looking column covered on all sides with knobs and switches right in the middle of it.

To the side of that column was Rose!

Shareen couldn't believe it. Her best friend stood there in something looking like the set of a science fiction show looking at her with concern written all over her face.

"Rose?" Shareen asked as she looked at her friend in complete disbelief.

Shareen looked around her in confusion.

"Am I dead? Is this Heaven? It isn't what I thought that it would be," Shareen said as she just stood there in a daze.

"No, you're very much alive. So am I by the way. I'm sorry that I didn't tell you sooner," Rose said to her with a small smile.

Shareen broke down into tears and slumped down onto the console floor.

"I am dead! Either that or I'm dreaming. This can't be real. That explains the last few years. It has just all been one big long bad dream!" Shareen said to herself as she completely lost her self-control.

Rose ran over to her and held her in her arms as she shook out of control with anguish.

"I'm so sorry. I should have come to visit you once I got back. I'm here now though, and I'm ready to listen just like in the old days. Remember when you used to tell me all of your troubles, and it would always make you feel better?" Rose said to her friend.

Shareen finally broke, and the dam burst. She told Rose about everything that had happened to her while Rose had been gone. Rose listened silently just like she used to do as she got everything out that had been bothering her for years.

Finally Shareen stopped sobbing, and she looked at Rose as if seeing her for the first time.

"It's really you, isn't it?" Shareen asked as she finally accepted the reality of what she was seeing around her.

"Hello!" Rose said with a warm smile.

Shareen put her arms around Rose and just held her tightly for a long time while she started to sob again. This time it was tears of joy. Finally something had gone right after so many years of darkness!

Rose finally explained just what had happened to her after Shareen was able to talk again. She told her about traveling through time and space with the Doctor and then being trapped on Pete's World. Then she told her that she had recently come back but had left out all of the details of just how she had returned or what had happened since then. She just told her that she was traveling with the Doctor again just like before. Shareen was dazed and confused enough without her telling her that she was the Bad Wolf or that she had never been human in the first place. That could definitely wait for another day when Shareen was a little more stable!

As it was, Shareen still looked at her in disbelief over what she had told her about the TARDIS and traveling through time and space with a thousand year old alien.

"So this is a spaceship? You've met aliens then? Real actual aliens like the ones that they've shown on television?" Shareen asked her as she struggled to grasp what Rose had told her.

"Yep! I've met them, fought them, and run for my life from them. It gets to be routine after a while," Rose confided to her with a grin.

Shareen shook her head as she struggled to believe in what Rose was telling her.

It was then that the Doctor walked in and eyed Shareen with a puzzled face.

"Don't I know you?" the Doctor asked her confused.

"No. I'd think that I would remember seeing someone in an outfit like that before," Shareen commented with a snicker.

The Doctor continued to stare at Shareen while Rose giggled in the background.

"That's it! Shareen! Rose's friend, right?" the Doctor said as he burst into a huge smile.

"Yeah but who are you? I'm never seen you before," Shareen insisted.

"I'm the Doctor, and we have met before. You remember, don't you? It's when I was the shouty bloke who wore the leather jacket and had the shaved head. Don't tell me you don't remember that me? That me was kind of hard to forget! I was always shouting and being all angry and emotional all over the place!" the Doctor said as he mimed his former self by putting an angry look on his face and holding his mouth wide open while he lifted his finger up and pointed it at her sternly while wagging it.

Rose started to laugh uncontrollably at this impersonation of his former self while Shareen just looked at him with shock as a sudden realization came over her.

"You! You're the bloke who kidnapped Rose for a year?! How could it be you though? You look nothing like him!" Shareen said in confusion.

"I have this little trick I do where I change my body when I'm about to die, and I literally become a new man. I've done it twice since you met that version of me. I have to say that this version of me is a definite improvement over Old Leather!" the Doctor said with a wide grin.

Rose shook her head at him.

"I loved him and the next you and this you! I love all of you, each and every one!" Rose said as she kissed him on the lips.

Shareen just looked at them both like they were crazy.

Oswin came into the room then with Emma and Penny.

They all introduced themselves to Shareen, and Rose explained a little of her history with her to her newest friends.

"So all of you are traveling together and fighting aliens through time and space?" Shareen asked them with a smile on her face. This was just too much! she thought to herself.

They all nodded as Rose said, "Yeah, something like that."

Rose and Shareen then moved off to the side to discuss old times as Shareen finally became comfortable in her new surroundings. The Doctor realized from what Rose was sharing with him in their link that he was about to have a new traveling companion soon for at least a little while until Shareen found another place to live. He didn't mind it though. He had liked Shareen when he had last met her. She had given Shouty a massive earful about taking Rose away for a year! He figured she was worth keeping around just to get to relive that memory every time that he saw her. He loved laughing at Shouty! Not as much as laughing at thoughts of Pretty Boy or Handy but it was a close second!

He turned his attention toward his other new companions. He liked Penny and Emma. They were both very nice, and he had already warmed up to them. He especially liked Penny because he liked anyone who could make Jack squirm like she did every time that she was around him. Watching Jack act like a bumbling idiot around her was just classic entertainment! Emma was a bit of a strange case. He could feel that there was some special connection between her and Penny. Like Rose, he could see the bond between them. He knew that this meant that they had to be related to one another. From what he could see, they had to be very closely related to one another. Just how close though he still wasn't sure yet, but he had his suspicions.

Then, he turned his attention to Oswin. Rose had told him that she had saved him in another timeline that had been erased, but he didn't trust her. She was a Dalek! How could he ever trust any Dalek after everything that they had done to him? Oswin especially bothered him because the device that she had rigged up to hide her true self was so effective that it had actually fooled him into thinking that she was really human when he first met her. He didn't like the idea of a Dalek being in his TARDIS, and he especially didn't like the idea of one who pretended to be human and did it so well that they could fool his own highly advanced senses! She acted all nice and friendly, but he didn't believe it for a second. She would show her true self sooner or later, and he didn't want Rose or his new friends to get hurt when she did so.

Oswin could see the Doctor staring a hole into her, and it made her very uncomfortable. She remembered him being her friend at the end, and to see him look at her like this now with such suspicion and blind hatred made her feel sick inside. She just wanted to leave and go somewhere else where she could live out her life in some kind of semblance of peace. She didn't want to be where she wasn't wanted.

Rose walked over to her after having watched this silent exchange and whispered to her, "He'll come to accept you eventually, Oswin. Don't worry about it! I want you here even if he doesn't right now, okay?"

Oswin nodded but still looked uneasy.

The TARDIS landed, and the Doctor read off where they had arrived on the console.

"Oh, London, 1880! I love the Victorian era!" The Doctor said with a grin.

Oswin looked up in surprise at that. She had originally been going to that time era by herself because she had read about the Doctor having a run-in with Queen Victoria there. She had decided to look for him in that time period first because she knew for sure that he would be there. Apparently Rose didn't change this part of the timeline or did she? Oswin wondered if it would happen differently from the version that she had read about.

"Do you think that Queen Victoria will still have that whole banishment thing on us in effect?" Rose asked with a smirk.

"Oh, I'm sure that she's forgotten about that by now," the Doctor said as he went to open the TARDIS doors.

He was immediately greeted by a small army of soldiers who were surrounding the TARDIS on all sides.

"You are under arrest in the name of the Queen," one of them shouted as they all pointed rifles at the Doctor's head.

The Doctor quickly shut the door so that Rose and the others could not be seen. He hoped that they would have the good sense to stay in the TARDIS.

As he was led away to be brought before the Queen, Rose thought back to him with a chuckle What was that about her forgetting about it?

The Doctor grumbled in his head but said nothing back.

He could hear Rose laughing at him for several minutes afterward.

**Next: Rose and friends have to rescue the Doctor from Queen Victoria! **


	22. Chapter 22

CHAPTER 22

I do not own Doctor Who, and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews! **

As the Doctor was led before Queen Victoria, he briefly wondered how she even recognized him. After all, he was in his tenth incarnation when he last saw her. She never saw the TARDIS either as far as he knew. Why were the guards waiting there just as he arrived like that too? Someone had to have told her that he was coming.

Queen Victoria looked at him sternly and said, "So you are the mysterious anarchist who threatens to bomb the next meeting of Parliament? But we've caught you now thanks to the help of our trusted new informant. I did not believe them at first when they said that you would suddenly appear in the middle of the street in a blue box, but they were right. How did you accomplish it, sir? You must be an expert in the art of illusion. Your plans are thwarted now though. Take him away!"

"Wait! Who is this mysterious informant of yours that falsely accuses me? I demand to face my accuser?" the Doctor said angrily.

"You see I told you the truth, your majesty. See how arrogant he is that he would talk to you in such a manner? He is exactly as I described him, isn't he?" a voice said from the shadows behind Queen Victoria's throne.

"Yes, he is. You are a true friend to us, Lord Saxon," Queen Victoria said.

The Master walked out from behind Queen Victoria with a big smile on his face.

"What are you doing? I thought that you changed!" the Doctor said indignantly.

"Changed? What are you talking about? I'm still the same handsome rogue I've always been who wants to stop you and your evil ways. I am here to stop the evil Doctor from overthrowing the government!" the Master said with a massive smile on his face. He was enjoying every moment of this.

"Doctor?! You did not tell me that he was the Doctor! My mortal enemy! He is not as I remember him though. How could he be the same man?" Queen Victoria asked him in confusion.

"He is an expert in disguise, Your Majesty! He can make himself look like completely different people with ease. You'd never recognize him! He is though the exact same man that you met last year. He's just as duplicitous and underhanded as he was on that occasion as well when he pretended to be someone he wasn't. He loves to assume different personas and to try to fool people, Your Majesty. It's a thrill for him. He also loves causing trouble and creating instability wherever he goes," the Master said with a grin.

"Yes, there was certainly plenty of trouble around the last time that I met him. It is good that you have warned us about his latest plan, Lord Saxon! Thank you very much! I will reward you handsomely," Queen Victoria said as she smiled at him.

"I ask for no reward, Your Majesty. My reward is seeing that man be given what he deserves!" the Master said with a smirk on his face.

"Oh, he will I assure you, Lord Saxon! We will execute him this time! There will be no mercy!" Queen Victoria said in anger.

The Master couldn't help himself. He started to laugh long and hard.

Queen Victoria gave him a strange look but chalked his behavior up to a passion for justice.

The Doctor was livid. How could Koschei do this to him? He had thought that he had finally reformed at last!

"Your Majesty, please listen to me! You are being deceived! It is the man next to you who is the saboteur not the Doctor! He is trying to frame the Doctor to distract you from his own involvement. He will carry out his bombing while you think that the real culprit is dead, and then he will quietly slip away in the aftermath," a voice said from behind the Doctor.

"Who are you to be making such accusations?" Queen Victoria said as she eyed the newcomer in disbelief.

"I am the Queen of Freedonia, Your Majesty! This man has pulled similar bombing attacks in my country, and we failed to capture him. I have tracked him here, and I have come personally to stop him this time and to bring him to justice in my country's legal system," a woman whose voice the Doctor didn't recognize said.

"What is your name, Your Majesty? I have not heard of this country of Freedonia. Where is it exactly?" Queen Victoria asked, still slightly suspicious.

"My name is Cassandra I, Your Majesty, of the House of Harkness. My small country of Freedonia is a small island kingdom in the southern Pacific Ocean. We aren't on most maps so you've probably never heard of us," said the mysterious female voice.

The Doctor turned to see a brunette in a long purple robe standing there. He had seen this face before. It was the face that Rose gave herself with her Bad Wolf powers when she wanted to appear before people who would recognize her without giving away who she was.

It seemed that she had disguised her voice this time as well. He had never heard her use this particular voice before. It sounded exotic and mysterious. He decided that he liked it. He would have to talk to her about using it again later! For . . . future missions only, of course!

You've been hanging around Jack too long I think! Rose's real voice said in his mind.

I have not! the Doctor thought back to her with a smile on his face.

"Can you provide evidence of these accusations, Your Majesty, and of your royalty?" Queen Victoria asked her.

Yes, I can, Your Majesty," Rose said.

She put her hand behind her back and several documents that falsely implicated the Master in several bombings in the country of Freedonia appeared with an official looking seal of a howling wolf on it. Official looking documents proclaiming Rose's identity as the Queen of Freedonia appeared as well bearing the signatures of several English officials that Queen Victoria would recognize and trust. She pulled the documents out and handed them to her.

Queen Victoria took them and evidently they met her approval because she suddenly believed Rose's story. She turned on the Master and eyed him with a white hot fury,

"Arrest him and release the Doctor! We have been deceived by this charlatan," Queen Victoria commanded.

"Thank you, Your Majesty! May I be permitted to take him back to my country for prosecution there?" Rose asked.

"Eventually. He must go through our legal system first however," Queen Victoria said as she smiled at her.

"Thank you. That will be fine. I thank you for releasing my agent, the Doctor. He and his wife, Rose Tyler, are loyal friends to my country. I believe that you have met them before. You may have gotten the wrong impression of them then. They are used to going undercover on assignments so when they caught on to an attempt on your life they automatically assumed fake identities at that time. It may seem as if they had a carefree attitude to the misery going on around you at the time, but I assure you that no one cares about the suffering of others more than they do. I recommend them highly to you. I trust them completely," Rose said.

Queen Victoria nodded and had a thoughtful look on her face.

"I will take your words into consideration, Queen Cassandra. For now though, I wish for you to take him with you when you leave. I still do not trust him after our run-in the last time," Queen Victoria said.

"I understand, Your Majesty. Perhaps someday you will see him as I do though," Rose said in an honest tone.

Queen Victoria seemed to catch onto the meaning under her voice and nodded at her again without saying another word.

"I will take him then and take my leave of you, Your Majesty. Farewell!" Rose said as she gestured for the Doctor to follow her.

After they left the Queen's Court and were safely out of earshot of anyone who might report on their conversation, Rose said, "That wasn't the Master that we know. It was a Master from the recent past."

The Doctor looked at her with an odd look for a minute and then he said, "Of course! That's why he was acting like his old rotten self. That's why the Queen of Freedonia bit too. I should have thought of that! I'm getting old! My old brain just doesn't work as quickly as it used to! I may look hip and with it, but I'm still an old codger on the inside."

Rose looked at him with a fake angry expression.

"What does that make me then? I'm hundreds of years old too. Are you saying I'm an old codger too?" Rose asked.

"Of course not, dear. You're the most youthful person I've ever met. There's nothing old about you! You're full of life! Also, you're the most beautiful woman in the universe! No, the multi-verse!" the Doctor said as he kissed up to her.

"That's good! If you hadn't remembered to add that last part I would have had to slap you very hard upside the head! I'm glad that I didn't have to do that though. I like doing this to you better," Rose said as she gave him a quick peck on the lips.

"I like that better too!" the Doctor said as he gave her a big smile.

"We still have to figure out what the Master was up to here though. I'm sure that it wasn't just to get you executed. How did he know that you were coming here anyway and the exact time?" Rose asked.

"Those are very good questions! We'll have to try to get to the bottom of things here as soon as possible. I know the Master well enough to know that whatever he's up to it is something big, and it will probably happen quickly which was why he wanted me out of the way. He knows that I can escape any prison quickly so he wanted to occupy me just long enough for his plan to go into action," The Doctor concluded.

"Let's just hope that it doesn't go into effect before we can find out what it is," Rose said.

At that moment, a huge booming sound resounded throughout the courtyard as something exploded somewhere nearby!

"Too late to hope for that now it seems," the Doctor said to her with a frown.

They ran toward the source of the explosion as they held each other's hand.

What they saw there shocked them both.

**Next: The Master's plan revealed. **


	23. Chapter 23

CHAPTER 23

I do not own Doctor Who, and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews! **

A huge army of Ogrons were pouring out of a ship that had landed on top of a bank. The bank had been crushed into rubble by the impact, but the Ogrons were oblivious to the sufferings of the people around them.

Ogrons were tall ape-like humanoids that worked as mercenaries for hire. They were very strong and also very hard to kill. These assets plus their limited intelligence made their services very much in demand. They usually worked for the Daleks, but they had also worked for the Master in the past and apparently they wore working for him again now.

The Ogrons were all holding futuristic guns and were blasting away at everything and everyone in sight. People were running away from them in a mass panic. Rose started to step forward and deal with them when Oswin appeared.

Oswin didn't appear as her usual self though. She appeared in her true Dalek form. Ogrons feared the Daleks and would do anything that they wanted. Oswin, of course, knew this from her reading off of the Dalek net.

"HALT! YOU WILL OBEY! STOP YOUR ATTACKS ON THE HUMANS NOW!" Oswin shouted at them.

The Ogrons all stopped in their tracks and looked at her in terror. The Daleks had done enough terrible things to them in the past that they knew to fear them.

"What are your orders?" one of the Ogrons said as he backed away from her.

"STAND IN PLACE AND AWAIT FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS! DO NOT OBEY ANY FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS FROM ANYONE ELSE OTHER THAN THE DALEKS," Oswin ordered.

"We will obey," the Ogrons all said together in fear.

Rose smiled at the Doctor in triumph. It seemed that having Oswin there had been a good thing after all!

When the Ogrons saw the Doctor, they began to shake even more if that were possible.

"It is the Doctor!" one of them shouted like a scared little kid. He ran and hid behind another Ogron.

"You have quite a reputation with them it seems," Rose said with a grin.

"I may have had some run-ins with them in the past," the Doctor admitted.

Oswin entered the Ogron ship, and the Doctor and Rose followed behind her. As the two of them passed by the Ogrons, they all backed away from the Doctor in fear.

"I want a reputation like that. Nobody's afraid of me that way," Rose pouted.

"Nobody is afraid of the Bad Wolf? I don't so," the Doctor said to her seriously.

When they heard her name, the Ogrons all started screaming! Several of them fainted, and one of them got on his kness and started begging her for mercy!

"They just don't make bad guys like they used to," Rose commented with a giggle.

"You see they do fear you. They just don't know what you look like," the Doctor said.

"I need to build up my reputation more then. Although I admit that I don't like seeing Ogrons wetting themselves at the sound of my name. It doesn't present a good image," Rose said with a grimace.

"Or a good smell either," the Doctor commented as he held his nose.

They followed Oswin into the ship and found her back looking like her human self again. She was standing over someone who was tied up with ropes and lying on the floor.

"I'm Oswin. Don't be afraid of me. I'm here to help you. Just let me untie those ropes," Oswin said as she started toward the person on the floor.

"No! Stay away from me! You're a creature from the stars! I see the hate in you! Don't hurt me!" a voice familiar to both the Doctor and Rose shouted out in fear.

Oswin backed away with an upset expression on her face, and Rose patted her arm and gave her a reassuring smile.

Rose was shocked to see that the owner of the frightened voice was Gwyneth, the woman who Rose had met in Cardiff in 1869 and who had been killed by the Gelth.

When Gwyneth saw Rose her eyes went wide and she said, "You're the girl I met when I was working for Mr. Sneed! Miss Rose! No, that's not who you really are! Your name is Arkytior! You are the Bad Wolf! No! No!"

Gwyneth seemed even more scared now and started to cry.

"Maybe having a reputation isn't such a good thing after all," Rose said as she moved back from Gwyneth so that she would feel more comfortable.

"It's terrible, isn't it?" Oswin said as she gave Rose as sympathetic look.

"Yes. I don't want to be feared by people like Gwyneth," Rose said with a sad look on her face.

"Do you know her?" Oswin asked.

"Yes, I met her when I first started traveling with the Doctor but she died. I don't understand how she survived. She was blown up!" Rose said in bewilderment.

"The Master saved me with his marvelous machine that travels in time and space! He's been using me ever since to give him visions of the past and the future. He's held me prisoner here for a long time. All he does is want more and more visions from me. I just want to be free! Please help me! I know that you are the Doctor even though you have a new face. Please release me, Doctor!" Gwyneth begged the Doctor.

"Of course I will. You don't have to be afraid of Rose, Gwyneth. She's your friend too. You remember that, right?" the Doctor said as he untied her.

Oswin noticed that he didn't mention that she shouldn't be afraid of her, but she let it go.

"She is the Bad Wolf. She is full of so much power and fury. She is unstoppable. An irresistible force of nature! She is terrifying and . . ."Gwyneth stopped as she really got a good look at Rose.

"No! I was wrong. That is only part of you! There is also much kindness and compassion. Also, there is joy! There is so much joy, and it all comes out in her because of you, sir," Gwyneth said as she looked at the Doctor with a smile.

The Doctor smiled without saying a word and so did Rose.

Gwyneth looked at Oswin now and seemed to be reading her a little further as well.

"You are not as I thought on first glance either, miss," Gwyneth said as she stood up and slowly made her way to Oswin.

"I'm sorry! I did not mean to hurt your feelings. There is much hatred in you, but it's all directed at yourself! You hate what you've become! There is also so much that is good in you though. You have a very protective nature. You seek to help others and to keep them safe. You hate it when people reject you because of your Dalek self. It hurts you because you know that you are so much more, and you only want others to see it," Gwyneth said as she placed her hand on Oswin's shoulder in a gesture of comfort.

The Doctor looked at the two of them interact and began to look uncomfortable. It seemed like he was rethinking his opinion on Oswin. Gwyneth would have no reason to lie about her after all.

"So the Master learned when and where we were coming from you?" Rose asked Gwyneth.

"Yes. I had a vision of the blue box landing here on this day, and he made me tell him about it. I'm sorry! I didn't want to but he got it out of me. He has many different . . . ways of making you talk!" Gwyneth said as she looked uncomfortable.

Rose put her arms around her and said," It's all right now. He won't hurt you anymore."

"Oh, I wouldn't say that," the Master said from the doorway of the ship as he held his Laser Screwdriver at them.

"You and whoever your friends are have no chance of stopping me now, Doctor!" the renegade Time Lord said with his ever present evil laugh.

Rose's Bad Wolf powers were still keeping the Master from recognizing her. They didn't work on Gwyneth though which was strange. Only The Doctor and her companions should have been able to see who she really was. She would have to find out more about that later. If she had a later!

"Oh, and why is that? Please tell me all about your evil plans," the Doctor said with a grin.

"The Ogrons and my attempt to get you executed were both just distractions for my true plan. I broke out of that pitiful cell that I was thrown in and found my true objective while you were busy wasting time here," the Master gloated.

The Master held up a metal gauntlet and shoved it in the Doctor's face with pride.

"The Lost Gauntlet of Rassilon! It was lost during the Time War, and I tracked it here to Earth. It came out through the rift in Cardiff years ago. It was found by soldiers and brought to the Queen for her private collection. I found out from Gwyneth when you were coming here and used the Ogrons as distractions for you when Victoria failed to stop you so that I could break into the Tower of London and claim it as my own! I wanted to do it when you were here so that I could see the look on your face when I showed it to you! The look that you have right now! It's magnificent!" the Master said as he started to laugh.

The Doctor looked pale, but he still managed to say, "Well, that line finally worked. Someone finally told me their plans!"

"He always tells you his plans," Rose said as she rolled her eyes at him.

"Oh, yeah! Right!" the Doctor said with a groan.

That had been the only good thing that he could think of about this situation. Now he didn't even have that. He was really batting a thousand today it seemed!

**Next: The Lost Gauntlet of Rassilon! What does it do? Come back next time and find out! **


	24. Chapter 24

CHAPTER 24

I do not own Doctor Who, and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews! **

The Master stood in triumph in front of the Doctor, Rose, Oswin, and Gwyneth. He put the Lost Gauntlet of Rassilon on his hand and instantly all free thought on the entire planet stopped!

The gauntlet had the power to allow its wearer to control the minds of everyone on an entire planet. No one could resist its power. Rassilon had used it to subjugate entire worlds to his will during the Time War so that they would join his side against the Daleks. Now the Master had it and had used it to take complete control over the human race!

It even worked on Rose. She found that she had no will of her own, and all she could do was watch while the Master raved and gave out orders to his Ogrons to occupy Parliament.

He was going to make Parliament his new base for the control of this planet. This was even better than the Archangel Network because this gave him complete and total control over everyone, even the Doctor!

Oswin was affected as well. At least her human mind was. The Dalek instincts that had been placed in her mind and that she constantly fought back against were not under the gauntlet's control. The Daleks had found a way around the gauntlet early in the war. This made them all immune to its control.

Oswin could only watch in horror as her Dalek side took control and began to attack the Master! She didn't much care about what it would do to the renegade Time Lord, but she knew that it wouldn't stop there. It would then start killing everyone else, and it would not stop until it either conquered or destroyed the entire planet!

"EXTERMINATE!" the Dalek part of Oswin said as she started shooting her gun stalk at the Master!

The Master used his laser screwdriver on Oswin, but she quickly flew out of the way of its beam. She was torn between wanting to stop the Master and wanting him to stop her. She wasn't sure who, if anyone, to root for!

Rose watched helplessly as the two of them fought with each other, and their stray blasts caused massive damage and destruction. It was only a matter of time before someone got killed especially because no one could move without the Master's say so!

Rose was filled with rage that she could do nothing to help. Then she heard a voice talk to her from her subconscious.

"It isn't affecting me, Rose. The gauntlet is only affecting you. Let me take control!" Arkytior's voice said inside her mind.

Rose accepted her offer, and Arkytior once more had a body for the first time in over twenty years.

Arkytior summoned the Bad Wolf but was hesitant to use it. She still was afraid of the power.

"You have to do this. You have to stop them both now! You can use it. I use it all of the time. Come on!" Rose encouraged her from inside of their shared mind.

Arkytior used the Bad Wolf to override the Gauntlet's control of Oswin's mind, and Oswin stopped attacking the Master. She stood nearby and waited to see if she were needed.

Arkytior next turned and faced the Master.

"How did you do that? How did you get the Dalek to stop attacking, and how did you overcome my control?" the Master asked in astonishment.

Arkytior removed her disguise and replaced it with an illusion of her first incarnation's appearance. She wanted to unnerve Koschei as much as possible and get him to give up without a fight. She didn't want to have a battle with him. She thought of him as a brother and did not wish to harm him unnecessarily.

When the Master saw Arkytior standing in front of him and glowing with the power of the Bad Wolf, his eyes started to tear up and he started to shake. Not from fear but from shame. He never wanted her to see him like this!

"You're not going to go any further with this, Koschei! I'll stop you if I have to. I don't want to do that though. Please just stop all of this! Would you really hurt me to take over Earth?" Arkytior asked him with tears in her eyes. She didn't like to see him like this!

The Master hesitated, and then pulled the gauntlet off and handed it to her. Everyone on the planet immediately came back under their own control.

Arkytior melted the gauntlet into sludge in her hand, and then disintegrated what was left of it with a glance! Maybe this power wasn't so bad after all. It had helped her resolve all of this without any further bloodshed after all. She wasn't so sure that the Master would have responded to Rose's true appearance in quite the same way as her original one after all.

She then powered down and walked over to the Master. She put her arms around him and hugged him to her as he began to openly weep.

"I'm so sorry! I couldn't resist the drums any more without you there! I'm so ashamed!" he repeated to her over and over.

She just hugged him tighter to herself and said, "I forgive you! You have to leave now though. You must leave this people alone. You must also forget that you have seen me. You cannot remember seeing me here. I will have to erase this memory from your mind and send you far away from here. We will meet again though, Koschei. We will be good friends again someday!"

"I look forward to it! I've missed you so much!" Koschei said with a warm smile on his face.

"I've missed you too! Everything will be alright before too much longer though. I hope that deep down you remember that," Arkytior said.

I suspect that I will," Koschei said as he continued to smile.

He kissed her on the cheek and held her to him. He loved her with all of his hearts. She was like the sister that he had never had! He would do anything for her!

After a few minutes, they separated. Arkytior then erased the whole incident from his mind, and then sent him and his TARDIS along with the Ogrons hundreds of miles away from Earth. They would remember nothing of their visit to Earth or of the gauntlet.

Arkytior then repaired all of the damage that had been done and brought the people that had been killed back to life as they had been before the Master had arrived. Afterwards many would be at a loss as to explain what had happened, and the fledgling Torchwood of the time would act to quickly cover it up. Reports of it would make it into future history books though and would be read about by Oswin Oswald. Time had been placed in order just as it should be.

Arkytior walked over to the Doctor and said, "Hello, Theta!"

The Doctor blinked in surprise and said, "Arkytior? Where is Rose?"

"She's still here. I'll bring her back to you in a moment. My time is over. I know that. It was still nice to have one last moment to make up for my cowardice in life though, and I got to save Koschei from himself for once. I actually made a difference. It was so wonderful!"

"You always made a difference, Arkytior. When you were gone, the Master and I both fell apart! We just did it in very different ways. That shows what a difference your mere presence made in our lives!" the Doctor said with heartfelt emotion in his voice.

Arkytior kissed him then, and the two of them kissed for a long time with their arms around each other. Then she pulled away from him. It was time to go.

"Good bye, my love! Maybe we'll meet again!" Arkytior said with a soft smile.

"I certainly hope so," the Doctor said.

Then he could see not only her physical appearance, but her whole expression and manner change as she shifted from Arkytior back to Rose. He looked at Rose with a guilty expression. He had just been kissing her other self after all.

Rose laughed at him and gave him another passionate kiss. This time it was from her.

When she pulled away, she said, "Don't be so silly! Why would I be jealous of myself?"

The two of them walked hand in hand over to a crying Oswin.

"Hey! Stop that! What happened wasn't your fault, okay?" Rose said.

"I couldn't stop it. It took over. I always keep it under control usually, but this time I couldn't. What if I had killed someone?" Oswin said as she shivered with fear.

"You didn't though. Everything's okay now. You're fine. You're back in total control again," Rose said in a calm, comforting voice.

"But what if I lose control again? What if . . ." Oswin trailed off in pain.

"That won't happen! You won't let it. I believe in you, Oswin!" the Doctor said unexpectedly.

Oswin and Rose both looked at him in shock!

"Let's just say that I finally came to my senses! I am so sorry for doubting you!" the Doctor said as he apologized to her.

Oswin ran over to him and hugged him. Then she gave him a kiss on the cheek.

The Doctor couldn't help but be embarrassed. He was getting hugged and kissed by a Dalek! Something was wrong with this picture!

Rose just laughed at the expression on his face.

Gwyneth walked over to Rose and whispered to her, "What do I do now, Miss Rose?"

"What do you mean?" Rose asked confused.

"What are your instructions this time?" Gwyneth asked as if her meaning should be clear.

"I'm sorry?" Rose asked even more confused.

"I want to know what you want me to do in my next mission for you. What do you want me to help you with next, Bad Wolf? You are always sending me out to help you in different times and places. You brought me back to life, and I now help you fix things that have gone wrong because I want to repay you for that even though you keep telling me it isn't necessary," Gwyneth said.

"I don't understand. This is only the second time I've met you since you worked for Mr. Sneed. I didn't bring you back to life or send you on any missions," Rose said, still confused.

"Oh, I'm sorry! This whole time travel thing is still over my head. This is before you brought me back to life, and I decided to help you to pay you back for it. It hasn't happened for you yet, has it?" Gwyneth said with a chagrined look on her face.

"No, it hasn't. So future me kept you from dying when the Gelth should have killed you, and then saved you from the explosion?" Rose asked, completely shocked as she now began to understand.

"Yes, Miss Rose. After that is when I started to help you. I could stay with this you and help if you want. At least until your future self needs me again," Gwyneth said.

"Well, I'd be happy to have you travel with me. I don't know if I need any special help or not really, but I would like to ask you a little more about what you do for me in the future if you're allowed to tell me about it," Rose said.

Suddenly the words "BAD WOLF" appeared everywhere, and Gwyneth shook her head at Rose.

"I think that that means I'm not supposed to talk to you about it," she said with a smile.

Rose just looked around at the words everywhere and had an uncomfortable look on her face. That was always freaky even when she knew that she was doing it from the future.

"No questions then! You can still travel with me though, right?" Rose asked hopeful.

Of course, Miss," Gwyneth told her with a smile.

**Next: Gwyneth joins the crew as our little group all go into a new adventure that will have a reunion between Rose, Mickey, and Shareen. Watch Shareen tell Mickey off about not telling her about Rose! Also further developments about Emma and Penny! I haven't forgotten them honest! **


	25. Chapter 25

CHAPTER 25

I do not own Doctor Who, and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews! **

**Special thanks to An Irish Rose for her suggestions of what should go in Rose's TARDIS.**

Mickey Smith was waiting outside of his and Martha's house for the Doctor's TARDIS to arrive. Therefore, he was completely surprised when Rose came driving up in his driveway in a pink sports car!

Rose was wearing her 50's outfit again. She loved it too much to not wear it for long. She had decided that she would make it her semi-regular look from now on.

Mickey just stared at her blue denim jacket, pink skirt, and the pink ribbon in her hair in amusement! Her outfit combined with the pink sports car made for such an outrageous image that he could barely keep from bursting out in laughter.

"How do you like my new wheels, daddy-o?" Rose said in an American accent.

She burst out into laughter, and Mickey finally did too.

"Where's the TARDIS?" Mickey asked as soon as he could stop himself from laughing too hard.

"You're looking at her," Rose said with a mischievous smile on her face.

"What?" Mickey asked totally confused.

"This is my new TARDIS, Mickey! I gave her the form of a sports car. It's a car that you can actually drive, and you don't have to buy gas because it runs on the Vortex! It's a car and a time machine! The best of both worlds!" Rose said with a smug grin on her face.

"This is a TARDIS? Where's the door to get in?" Mickey asked with disbelief on his face.

"In the trunk," Rose said in a matter of fact tone.

"How do you get in there?" Mickey asked skeptically.

"You just get in head first. It's bigger on the inside you know so it gets wider from the entrance," Rose said with a smile.

Mickey frowned at her.

"I like the Doctor's TARDIS better," Mickey said.

Rose's face fell as she whispered in his ear, "Don't say that! You'll hurt her feelings!"

Mickey just shook his head. Rose was getting weirder and weirder! he thought.

"I am not!" Rose said with a fake pout.

He groaned. He hated it when she did that reading your body language thing that she did!

Rose just laughed at him as she snapped her fingers. The trunk of the sports car opened, and Shareen came running out of it.

"Shareen?!" Mickey asked in surprise.

He was about to say how glad he was to see her when she gave him a massive slap in the face!

"That's for not telling me about Rose and the Doctor! You knew all along about her traveling thorough time and space with him and never said a word! That whole year that she was gone you had me worried sick, and you knew everything!" Shareen yelled at him.

"Would you have believed me?" Mickey asked as he rubbed his cheek.

"I might have. I don't know. You still should have told me. I'm your friend," Shareen said uncertainly.

"Yeah. I should have. I'm sorry!" Mickey said with a sincere look on his face.

"You should be. Do you know what you put me through? I worried about her every day!" Shareen said, still angry.

"I really am sorry. I just didn't think that you would believe me. I thought that you would just say that I was crazy and throw me out. Everyone else would have if I had told them the truth I'm sure," Mickey said.

"Maybe I would have at first but toward the end of that year I think that I might just have believed anything. I just needed to know if she was safe," Shareen said with misty eyes.

Rose put an arm around her to comfort her.

"I'm really sorry! I was just so scared and upset myself after everyone started accusing me of killing Rose that I was afraid to talk to anyone about it at all!" Mickey admitted.

Rose put her other arm around Mickey.

"It's okay Mickey. I understand. I forgive you! If I was in your place, I'd probably have been out of my mind and not wanting to talk about it either! I'm sorry for yelling at you and for the slap! I've had a hard couple of years!" Shareen said with a sorrowful look on her face.

"That's okay! I forgive you too! I'm sorry about you being down on your luck the last few years!" Mickey said apologetically.

He then put his arms around her and hugged her. Shareen smiled and hugged him back.

Rose was happy that they had already made up so fast. The three of them had always been the best of friends though. She smiled to herself as she thought of them all being together again for the first time in so long. The old team was back together! Somewhere their old teachers were feeling a shiver in their souls at this moment she thought to herself with a giggle.

The three friends walked into Rose's TARDIS, and she snapped her fingers to close the door behind them.

Mickey stared in amazement at the TARDIS interior. A hot pink console dominated the center of the console room, but the rest of the room was filled with various distractions. There were video games systems set up all over the place. In the left corner of the console room, there was a door that led to a huge theater room with a massive screen off in the distance. Mickey was salivating at the idea of going in that room! Then there was a door in the right corner of the console room that led to an extensive wardrobe room filled with thousands of clothes. Mickey smiled at that. Only Rose!

In the back of the console room like in the Doctor's TARDIS there was a door that led to a maze of other rooms and corridors. Just to the side of that door was a huge machine that dispensed fresh warm chips! Mickey had to chuckle when he saw that.

On the wall, between the door that led to the inner levels of the TARDIS and the door that led to the theater, was the monitor. It took up almost the entire space between the doors and was very long and wide. Mickey was automatically jealous. Rose had a bigger television screen than he did! And a theater!

Rose laughed at him as she knew what that pout on his face meant! She loved making Mickey jealous!

Mickey soon stopped looking at the TARDIS and started talking to Rose's friends. He met and was soon swapping small talk with Gwyneth, Oswin, Emma, and Penny.

Gwyneth was a little strange and off-putting. He was nice to her, but he always had the feeling that she knew more about him than he knew about her. It was a little creepy.

He liked Oswin a lot. She was very nice and friendly. She also was very funny and a bit of a flirt. He immediately decided early on that he liked her more than all of Rose's new friends. When he found out later that she was a Dalek wearing a perception filter, he was totally thrown for a loop. He never would have known! He decided not to hold that against her though because he did like her a lot. She was certainly the nicest and prettiest Dalek he had ever met!

Emma was nice too but sad. He knew that something was bothering her, but she wouldn't say what it was. She was friendly enough though, and he liked her too.

Penny was even sadder than Emma. He certainly knew that something was bothering her just by looking at her a few minutes, but she tried not to show it. She was extremely friendly to him, and he could tell that she was trying to force herself to talk to him. That was a good sign at least Mickey thought.

He couldn't get over how much Penny looked like Emma. He decided that they had to be sisters and told them both so.

"Are you two sisters? You look a lot alike," Mickey asked.

"No. We may be related though. We don't know for sure yet. Emma comes from 1869 so she may be a distant cousin to me. We've never had a chance to research it yet," Penny said.

"You're certainly related somehow. You look too similar not to be. I remember that I had a cousin who looked just look like my grandmother did when she was a teenager. You could look at old pictures of my grandmother and think that they were pictures of my cousin. It was weird!" Mickey said with a laugh.

Emma and Penny looked at each other with strange expressions on their faces.

"What?" Mickey said confused.

"My father never did tell me anything about his family. He was always very mysterious about it. Do you think that . . .?" Penny started to ask Emma but stopped herself as she didn't dare hope that it could be true.

"I had a son who disappeared. I never knew where he went to. I had hoped to find some traces of what had happened to him somewhere in this time. If you are somehow his descendent, I'd be proud," Emma said with a smile.

Penny smiled back at her gratefully.

"I don't see how it could be possible since you come from so long ago but thank you! I'd be proud too!" she said.

Rose had been listening to this conversation and said, "I have a medical lab where we can settle this once and for all. I'll take you both there, and we can do a DNA test."

Both girls nodded, and they were about to follow Rose to the lab when there was a terrible noise outside.

"What is that?" Mickey cried out.

Rose turned on the monitor and saw an alien ship tearing huge chunks out of the city!

"Ice Warriors!" Rose said as she saw the design of the ship.

She immediately dematerialized her TARDIS and took it headlong into its first adventure as she headed toward the Martian warship.

**Next: The Ice Warriors attack! Emma and Penny finally find out the truth about their relationship! (It's about time I know!) Plus Jack!**


	26. Chapter 26

CHAPTER 26

I do not own Doctor Who, and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews! **

Rose contacted the Martian ship and the helmeted reptilian face of an Ice Warrior greeted her.

"Who are you that dares to address us?" he answered in the rasping voice of his race. They pronounced everything with a lisp stressing the s in every word like a snake.

"My name is Rose Tyler. Who are you to dare to attack my home? Get off of this planet! You have no right here. This is a clear invasion according to the Articles of the Shadow Proclamation," Rose said back to him defiantly.

"This is our world now. We claim it by right of conquest. Mars is no longer habitable for us. We need this planet," The Ice Warrior argued with her.

"You have no honor. The Martians of old would not have invaded another world like this without provocation!" Rose said in anger.

"Who are you to question my honor, human?" The Ice Warrior said in anger.

"I'm not human, soldier. I'm someone who knew the ancient Martians. They had honor and nobility. They were a proud race. Look at you now! You've fallen so low! You have no concept of honor," Rose said angrily.

She realized with a start that Arkytior was speaking now and not her. She worried about that for a minute until she could feel Arkytior assuring her that she was just momentarily taking over to handle things because she knew the Ice Warriors so well. She had been an ambassador to them for the High Council on many diplomatic missions after all.

Rose's friends were uneasy too because she wasn't acting like herself.

"Why is she saying she's not human?" Shareen asked confused.

"She's not anymore, Shareen. She changed about a year ago," Mickey said.

He then began to explain how Rose was actually a Time Lady and the Doctor's wife. He told her about Rose's fob watch and how she had opened it and transformed back to her original self.

Shareen started to get upset, and Mickey assured her that Rose was still the same.

"How can you say that? Listen to her! That's not my Rose," Shareen said as her eyes filled with moisture.

"She just talks like that when she deals with these world beater types. They respond better to that kind of diplomatic talk with the verbal threats and sparring," Mickey explained. Although Shareen could tell from the look on his face that he was worried about her too.

Rose could hear their conversation even though they were talking in low voices. She hated to be worrying them. Especially Shareen with all that she had been through in her life.

She was getting tired of dealing with this blowhard too. Arkytior might like it, but she did not.

"You will back down, human! Otherwise we will blow your strange vessel out of the sky!" the Ice Warrior said.

"Go ahead and try!" Rose challenged him.

"What? You dare to take thus to me?!" the Ice Warrior roared.

"I tried being diplomatic, but it just didn't work did it? So I'm tired of being nice to you! It's time I started giving you back what you've been dishing out!" Rose yelled back to him.

She cut off communications and started to dodge the attacks of the Ice Warriors as they opened fire on her. She flew through the barrage of weapons fire and drew closer and closer to the ship by the moment. As she drew closer, she unleashed one of her own TARDIS' weapons.

Hers was a fully equipped War TARDIS after all. She wouldn't use the weapons though except as a last resort. She, like the Doctor, didn't believe in using them. She had taken this TARDIS because it was the only one available that had not been claimed yet. She had wanted one for a while now, and it felt great to finally have one.

The weapon that she was using now was the least threatening of her arsenal. A missile flew out of her TARDIS from one of the car's headlights and hit the Martian ship head on. Its shields automatically cut off because the missile was designed to destroy a ship's shields and short out its electrical systems so that the shields could not be brought back up any time soon.

Now the ship was helpless before her, and she could easily attack it. She didn't want to do that though. Not if she didn't have to.

The Ice Warrior appeared on her monitor just like she knew that he would.

"How dare you attack our mighty ship? We will blow you out of the sky now!" he shouted at her.

Rose just smiled at him.

"Go ahead then! Attack me! I'm not going anywhere! Do it!" She said as she called his bluff.

He knew that she still had shields and would survive his attack, and then would send him one of her own. One he had no defense for at the moment!

Rose turned to Shareen and Mickey and shot them one of her face wide grins. Both of them still looked a little less uneasy but the familiar expression of joy on her face did help Shareen feel a little better about things.

"What do you propose to do, human? Our sensors detect that your strange vessel is full of armaments despite its peculiar dimensions. You could easily kill us if you want to. Do you wish to discuss surrender or a last request?" the Ice Warrior said with a sorrowful look on his face.

"I told you I am not human. I am a Time Lady from the planet Gallifrey, and I have dealt with your race before," Rose said.

She began to speak in the ancient language of the Martians, and the Ice Warrior looked at her in surprise and answered her back.

All of a sudden, Captain Jack Harkness broke into their communications and said, "From what little I could gather from your body language, I can only assume that you have this situation well in hand, but I need to break in here and make sure. You see Torchwood has all the world's governments breathing down its throat wanting us to do something about this. When I saw you were handling it, I decided to stay out of it. Do you need any help, or can I just tell them that the situation has been handled?" Jack asked Rose with a big grin.

He already knew what she was going to say. Rose knew why he was really calling. He wanted to talk to Penny.

"Things are fine here, Jack. Could it be that you have something to talk to Penny about though?" Rose said with a grin on her face.

"Well, now that you mention it. Penny could you, uh, well that is, um," Jack said as he stumbled over his words.

Rose giggled at his terrible attempts to ask Penny out.

"What is it, Jack?" Penny asked. She knew what he wanted and was trying to give him as easy an opening to her as possible.

He was red faced with embarrassment now, and he could hear his Torchwood crew laughing at him from behind him.

"Shut up!" He said to them in a low hiss.

Penny tried to keep from laughing herself now. She felt so bad for him, and if he couldn't get it out soon she would just take over the conversation herself to put him out of his misery. She got embarrassed and flustered around him too, but Jack was in a league of his own!

"Um, Penny, would you like to, um, go to a concert with me?" Jack said and then turned away from the screen as his face blushed bright red.

The laughter behind him got even louder and reached a crescendo.

Jack gave them all a look of death, and the noises quieted down but only a little.

"Sure, Jack. Why don't you call me later and give me the details. Things are a little tense here right now what with it being an alien attack and all," Penny said with a face a little red as well.

"Sure thing! Well, I'll see you later then. See ya! Um, bye now," Jack said as he signed off as the laughter behind him got much, much louder once again.

Rose giggled. Poor Jack! She thought as she shook her head.

The Ice Warrior had been watching all of this in quiet consternation. He didn't know what to make of this primitive courtship ritual nor did he much care. He only wanted to get this over with quickly for the sake of his crew. It wasn't their fault that he had picked a fight with a Time Lord and lost. They did not deserve his fate, and he hoped that she would be merciful and spare them. Maybe she would grant them a painless and quick death.

"I wish for you to show my crew mercy, great Arkytior! Punish me for my mistakes as you will but do not dishonor their bravery. I am at fault here. Do not punish them because of me," the Ice Warrior pleaded with her.

Rose looked at him in puzzlement.

"How do you know that name? I never mentioned it," Rose asked him.

"I did not recognize you at first because you have changed your form but now I know you. You are Arkytior, the great ambassador who negotiated the peace treaty between our various warring nations during the Great Insurrection. You almost singlehandedly averted total chaos and anarchy among us and brought that whole sorrowful affair to a peaceful end. Am I wrong?" the Ice Warrior asked her.

Rose looked at him and nodded.

"Yes, that was me. I was a different person back then though. That was a long time ago. At least a couple of hundred years ago," Rose said.

"Yes, countless hundreds of years ago. So long ago I've forgotten exactly how long it's been. I was a young warrior back then. I remember that I was frightened and trying not to show it.

Somehow you sensed my fear and took the time to quietly pull me aside and attempt to comfort me. I was not of your own race and you did not know me, but you still took the time to help me. I have never forgotten that! Please help me one last time and let my crew go with a merciful punishment," the Ice Warrior begged her.

Shareen couldn't help but smile at that. That was exactly what Rose Tyler would have done! Maybe she wasn't so different after all even if she had completely changed.

"Why did you attack Earth for in the first place?" Rose asked him.

"I was ordered to by the current government in charge on Mars. A number of us emerged from hibernation recently to discover Mars still uninhabitable from climate changes. The powers that be were determined not to return to our long sleep but to attack the Earth instead. We were sent here to prepare the way for an invasion. I do not support such a cowardly course of action, but I am following my orders," the Ice Warrior said with regret.

"Then, stop following stupid orders then! I'll tell you what you're going to do. You're going to go back and tell your leaders that they can reconsider their invasion plans right now! Tell them that if they set foot on Earth once more, I will reduce Mars to ashes. Let them try to live on it then!" Rose said but with a smile on her face not an expression of anger.

She winked at the Ice Warrior, and he understood that she was not actually threatening his people but asking him to convince them that she had.

"How would I convince them of this?" he asked.

"Tell them that the Bad Wolf will destroy them if they ever come back," Rose said but still with another wink at him.

The Ice Warrior recognized that name and looked at her with a shiver running through him.

"The Bad Wolf?!" he said in dread, and Rose saw his men turn and look at him in terror.

"That's me!" Rose said as she pointed at herself but still with a kind, smiling expression on her face. Her eyes flashed gold briefly so that they would get the message.

Shareen gasped behind her, and Rose knew that she would have a lot of explaining to do soon.

Rose spoke gently to him as she said, "I don't want to do anything really. Just tell them that. Convince them of it. I'll give you an indisputable piece of evidence to back up your argument."

The Ice Warrior watched in astonishment and horror as the words "Bad Wolf" were suddenly carved in huge letters all over his ship!

He turned shakily to Rose to see her still staring kindly at him, and he calmed down somewhat. He now understood that she had never meant him any harm. He felt that he could trust her for some reason, and so he decided to do as she asked him.

"I will go back and tell them what you have said and show them what you have done to my ship. I have no doubts about them deciding never to return here again. Thank you for your mercy, Arkytior!" the Ice Warrior said as he saluted her.

"Rose. My name is Rose," she told him with a soft smile.

The Ice Warrior nodded and he said, "Thank you, Rose!"

He signed off, and the ship left the Earth. Rose knew that they wouldn't be back.

She sighed in relief and returned to Mickey's front yard.

"I believe that we were going to test you two to see if you're related to one another or not. Let's go," Rose told Emma and Penny.

She led them to her TARDIS' fully equipped medical lab, and they had their blood drawn. Rose then took their blood and placed it into one of the large machines that surrounded them. Moments later, the results were displayed on a nearby monitor.

Emma and Penny looked at each other for a long time as neither knew how to react to what they had just discovered. Then they hugged each other, and they both began to cry with tears of joy.

The monitor read: Test results confirmed with 100% accuracy. Emma Miller is the paternal grandmother of Penny Miller.

**Next: How did this come about exactly? Find out along with Emma and Penny as Captain Jack sheds some light on this family mystery next time! Also, Shareen and Mickey discuss Rose's strange behavior lately with her. Additionally, a strange new menace enters Rose's life as an old foe of the Doctor's returns to confound her. Hint: She really hates mirrors! **


	27. Chapter 27

CHAPTER 27

I do not own Doctor Who, and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews! **

Rose's TARDIS landed outside of Torchwood and the Rift. Rose had taken Penny here not only to go on her date with Jack but also to have him explain something to her. Something that even Jack didn't realize that he knew about her.

As Jack walked up to Rose and Penny, Rose summoned the Bad Wolf. As she started to glow, Jack looked at her in concern.

"What's happening, Rosie? Are we under some kind of threat?" Jack asked as he looked around for any incoming attacks.

"Tell Jack your father's name," Rose said to Penny.

Penny looked a little nervous. Rose always unnerved her somewhat when she turned into the Wolf. She knew that Rose would never hurt her but seeing her all lit up and hearing her speak in that strange voice always made her shiver a little. Rose smiled at her softly and put her hand gently on her shoulder to reassure her, and Penny calmed down a little bit.

"My father was named William Jefferson Miller. My mother and all of his friends just called him Will," Penny said as she remembered him with a smile.

They heard a gasp from Jack as he recognized that name.

Rose knew that he would of course. She had seen a connection between Jack, Penny and Emma a long time ago. Their timelines were entwined around each other's. Now she had finally worked it out. She wanted to hear Jack confirm her suspicions though.

"Did you know my father?" Penny asked in surprise.

Jack nodded and said, "Yeah, it was about fifty years ago or so. I saw a young boy wandering around here in Cardiff near the Rift. He was wearing old nineteenth century clothing that looked brand new like it was made yesterday. He was crying and kept calling for his mother. I went up to him concerned and asked him what was wrong. He said that he had walked up to a glowing light that appeared before him, and then suddenly he was here in this strange place with people and things in it that he didn't recognize. He had been trying to find his way back for an hour he told me. The light that he had seen was gone, and he couldn't find his way back home. I realized that somehow he had been pulled through the rift and had wound up in the twentieth century. I had no idea how to send him back so I arranged for him to have a new life. I found some nice people to adopt him, and he seemed to be happy. I kept checking on him routinely every couple of months for years as he grew up. Then when he reached eighteen, he left his adopted family and just disappeared. None of us ever heard from him again. I always wondered what had happened to him."

Penny picked up the story from there as she took Jack's hand.

"He met my mother, Mary, when he was eighteen years old. They were both very much in love, and they stayed that way all of their lives. Even toward the end they still seemed just as much in love as they were when I was a kid. They were in a steady relationship for several years, and then they got married. I was born a year later, and we all had a very happy life until . . ." Penny said.

She couldn't finish her last sentence. She started crying and couldn't stop. Jack put his arms around to comfort her, and she rested her head on his shoulder.

It was time for Rose to give Penny her gift.

A voice spoke to Penny that she knew oh so well.

"Don't cry, my sweet girl! That is you, isn't it?" said her father's voice.

Penny jerked out of Jack's arms and turned around in complete astonishment with her eyes wide open!

"Dad?!" she screamed.

"Penny?" Will Miller asked her. He seemed confused, and Penny noticed that he looked like he had when she was a little girl.

"It's me, dad! It's Penny!" Penny reassured him as she ran up to him and hugged him tightly.

At first Will seemed uncomfortable, and then he finally knew from the way that she acted that she was indeed somehow his little girl all grown up. He smiled at how beautiful she had become and kissed her on the forehead like he did to the younger girl that he was familiar with.

Penny smiled at the familiar gesture from her father and finally for the first time since he had died she felt completely happy!

"I'm sorry that he can't stay forever, Pen. I've pulled a little trick you see. It's all very timey wimey," Rose said to her.

Penny looked at her, and she knew now that Rose had pulled him away from a point in her past.

"How long?" Penny asked as she grew sad again.

"I could keep him here for years but he does have to go back eventually to maintain the timeline. He can't appear to have changed too much," Rose said.

Penny nodded and then said, "How about a day?"

Rose smiled and said, "I can do that!"

"Thank you, Rose!" Penny said as she ran up to her and hugged her with all of her strength.

"I wanted to do it, Pen! You're my friend, and I can't stand seeing you in pain! This is my gift to you. I hope you find closure this way," Rose said with a warm smile.

Penny smiled at Rose and finally realized just how much Rose cared about her. Someday she would pay her back for this somehow.

Suddenly Emma appeared, and Will started to cry as he recognized her.

"Mother?" he asked through tears.

"Will?" Emma asked him. She was caught totally off guard. Somehow she knew that the man in front of her was her son.

They both ran up to each other, and mother and son were reunited at last!

"I don't understand. How can you still look like you did when I left you?" Will asked her.

"I don't know, my sweet boy. I don't exactly understand how you can be here either, but I don't question it. I'm just very, very thankful for it," Emma said as she pulled him tightly to her.

Emma did understand one thing though. She looked at Rose tellingly. She knew that her friend was behind this somehow. Rose just smiled back warmly at her.

"If it's okay with you Jack, I'd like to take a rain check on our date," Penny said.

Jack nodded with a happy smile on his face.

"Somehow I thought that you would say that," he said with a grin.

After Rose explained to both of them that Will could not know his own future, Emma and Penny walked off with Will to spend one final day with him.

Now Rose and Jack were alone as they watched the three of them walk off.

"You're the kindest person I know, Rose Tyler!" Jack said to her as he kissed her on the cheek.

"I just couldn't stand to see Penny and Emma so upset anymore. I thought that this would give them a chance to have a proper goodbye. Neither of them ever had that," Rose explained.

"What do you mean?" Jack asked. Penny never had told him what happened to her father.

"Will died in a car accident a few months ago. He died before Penny could get to see him. She's been devastated ever since. What happened to her reminded me of what happened with me and my dad," Rose admitted.

Jack looked at her in surprise and shock. He felt so bad for Penny, and he hoped that this extra day with her dad would help her finally heal herself.

"I also gave both Emma and Penny each other. I recognized Emma's connection to Penny when I first saw her. Emma was supposed to have died. Spring-Heeled Jack was supposed to have originally killed her, but I stopped him. I changed history because I wanted Penny to have a part of her father always with her. Also I thought that it was terrible that Emma never got to see her son again or ever know what happened to him. Her death was not a fixed point in time like Will's is so I was able to change it, and then bring her here to the present day so that I did no damage to the past," Rose explained to Jack.

Jack looked at Rose with new appreciation for her in his eyes.

"That's just as good if not better than something that the Doctor would do, Rosie! You're amazing!" Jack said as he hugged her.

Rose laughed and said, "Thanks. I try. I just wanted to fix things for her. I wanted to give her the chance to see her dad like I got to see my dad!"

Jack looked at her with sympathetic eyes. She was trying to give Penny what she had gotten once he realized. One more chance to see her dad but without the reapers showing up this time!

He hugged the woman that was like a sister to him tightly in appreciation for she had done for the woman that he loved so much. It shocked him to realize that. He was deeply in love with Penny! It was the first time that he had really admitted it to himself.

He looked at Rose to see that she was giving him one of her wide Rose Tyler grins. She knew what he had just realized, and he could tell that she approved.

"You're just as bad as your mums, you know that?" Jack kidded her.

Rose frowned and pouted as she said, "Don't even joke about something like that, Jack Harkness!"

She quickly broke back out into a smile though to show that she wasn't really that bothered by the comparison.

Later on she left Jack, who had to go back to his duties at Torchwood, and she decided to spend some quality time with Mickey and Shareen. She hadn't had much time to see them at all since they had been reunited. She also knew that both of them had been uneasy around her lately, and she wanted to know what was troubling them.

She decided to take them both on a sightseeing trip with her around Cardiff. They all got into the seats of the pink sports car that was her TARDIS' semi-permanent form, and she drove slowly through Cardiff's streets. Oswin and Gwyneth were both inside of the TARDIS. They were otherwise occupying themselves. They both knew that Rose wanted to spend some time alone with her old friends.

As the three of them drove along, none of them said a word. There was an uncomfortable silence that Rose broke as she got tired of putting up with it.

She pulled over to the side of the road and said, "Okay, out with it. What's wrong?"

"I know that you're not Rose. It's very nice of you to pretend to keep being her for the benefit of the people that loved her, but you can stop the act now. It's kind of an insult to her memory, Arkytior. I loved her too much to keep pretending that you're her," Mickey said.

Rose looked like someone had shot her through the hearts as she looked at Mickey with so much pain on her face. Shareen wondered if maybe what they thought about her might be wrong after all.

Mickey looked upset too to see her reaction, but he didn't back down. It didn't matter that Arkytior had grown attached to them. She was still not Rose, and he couldn't live a lie no matter how much he might want to.

"Why would you say that to me? I thought that you knew I'm still Rose. We settled this a long time ago, Mickey," Rose said with so much pain on her face.

"That's funny because you're not acting like her lately! The way you acted with that Ice Warrior at first. That wasn't the Rose that I know. You can't tell me that that was Rose," Mickey said defiantly.

"How about the way you acted around that Master bloke? I saw that on the TARDIS monitor. That wasn't the Rose that I know either. You were acting completely different. You didn't even talk like yourself. Is it true? Is this just an act that you're putting on for Rose's friends because you feel bad for replacing her?" Shareen said.

Rose started crying, and now both of her friends felt very badly for what they were saying to her. They had to know the truth though.

"I'm Rose. I don't know how to convince you of that but I am! I'm still your best friend. I know that I've been acting a little funny lately, but I'm still your Rose. My previous incarnation has been emerging lately and assuming control a few times, but that doesn't mean that I'm not who I say that I am. I don't like what she's been doing either. I going to have a talk with her about that sometime soon, but now I just want to spend some time with you two. Please believe me, I am Rose!" Rose said to them through tears.

Shareen reached out to her and touched her shoulder. She wanted to believe her, but she still wasn't sure.

Rose could see that she wanted to believe, and this gave her renewed hope.

"Do you remember that time that we set off the fire alarm, and then when everyone was out of the school we put itching powder in Mr. Jeffries' jacket and glue on the seat of his chair?" Rose asked Shareen with a wide smile on her face.

Shareen began to bust out laughing at the memory. Those were the good old days!

"Yeah! He was stuck to his seat when he came back and couldn't move! He just sat there and scratched himself mercilessly the rest of the class as he screamed that he was going to get whoever was responsible for it! They had to pry him out of that chair with a crowbar, and they ripped the bottom out of his trousers! He had to walk out of the classroom with a book covering his bum! It was hilarious!" Shareen said as she was convulsed over in the back seat in laughter.

Rose was laughing hysterically too and even Mickey, who wasn't there, had joined in the laughter. All three of them were laughing out of control for several minutes, and none of them could stop.

"He never did know that it was us. He threatened us all and punished us for it as a class, but he never found it. A week later, we struck him again. Rose put hot sauce in his tea that he always kept on his desk, and she put laxatives in his lunch that he kept inside of it. They had to bring in a substitute teacher to replace him within five minutes!" Shareen told Mickey, and they all burst out laughing again.

Finally when they had all calmed down, Mickey asked, "Why did you two hate him so much?"

"He made fun of both of us all of the time. He was always telling me how stupid I was, and he was always making fun of both me and Shareen for being poor. It wasn't just us either. He made fun of a lot of his students. We both got tired of it and decided to take him down a few pegs. I have always hated bullies in both of my lives. Jeffries was just a rotten bully, pure and simple. Both of us were determined to make his life as miserable as he was making ours. Maybe I was wrong to do what I did, but I still think he was a rotten prat who deserved whatever he got!" Rose said with no trace of guilt at all on her face.

"You're a great role model for Jenny and Cassie," Mickey said with a grin.

"I think so!" Rose said as she pretended to swell up with pride.

Mickey and Shareen looked at her differently now. They both had had their suspicions about her dispelled, and they now truly and firmly accepted her as Rose now. Only the real Rose could have the emotional connection to her memories that she did.

"I'm sorry for what I said. I didn't mean to hurt you," Mickey apologized.

"It's okay. I know that it's a lot to take in. I've changed a lot in the last year or so, Mickey. The person who I am on the inside though has not changed. I'm still who I always was. I'm still that same girl that you grew up with. I always will be," Rose said with a warm smile as she hugged Mickey close to her.

Mickey nodded and put his arms around her. Shareen joined in the hug a few minutes later, and the three old friends were at last properly reunited!

The three of them spent the rest of the day looking at the sights in Cardiff as originally planned and having fun. After the owner of the restaurant they went to was rude to them, he suddenly started screaming about having ants in his pants. He ran out of the building screaming and slapping his legs as the two of Rose's friends stared at her in suspicion.

"I had nothing to do with it. Honest!" Rose said with an innocent expression on her face.

They didn't notice that her fingers were crossed behind her back.

Unknown to the three friends as they toured the city, they were being observed the entire time. They didn't notice that they were being watched, however, because the person doing the observing was doing so from the most unlikely of places. They were watching from inside of every mirror or reflective surface that the three of them passed!

"Soon I will be free from this prison. Soon I will have my revenge on the horrible old Doctor who stuck me in here! He's going to pay for what he did to my family!" The observer said to herself.

I will hurt his family like he hurt mine! The observer thought with an ever widening grin on her face.

**Next: An old enemy of the Doctor's strikes out at Rose and her friends! Can you guess who it is? **


	28. Chapter 28

CHAPTER 28

I do not own Doctor Who, and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews! **

"Help me! Please help me!" cried out the voice of a little girl over and over again into the night.

Finally Lucy Cartwright could bear it no more, and she went to her bedroom mirror and uncovered it. She had been trying to sleep for hours and had been kept awake that entire time by the voice of the little girl in her mirror.

Only she could hear and see the little girl for some reason and sometimes she wondered if she were losing her mind. The little girl had assured her that she was not but then she would say that wouldn't she!

The girl had started appearing to her a month ago and hadn't left her alone since. She didn't just appear in her bedroom mirror. She could and would appear in every mirror or reflective surface that Lucy was near. She kept asking her to help her, and Lucy kept telling her to shut up whenever she was alone with her. She didn't even know what it was that she wanted. She never would really tell her. She just knew that she seemed to be very lost and afraid.

Finally after being driven insane by her for over a month, she had had enough! She decided that her tactic of ignoring her and not speaking to her except to tell her to shut up was not working. She had to confront her directly now.

"What do you want? Why can't you leave me alone? Please just go away and leave me alone!" Lucy screamed at the little girl who appeared to be behind her in her reflection in the mirror.

"I'm trapped in the mirror! In all reflective surfaces really. A very evil man put me in here a hundred years ago, and I can't get out. Only you can help me, Lucy, because you're a blood relative. You're a distant cousin to me," the little girl said.

This was news to Lucy. She had never told her this before. She had talked to her a lot but had until now never really told her anything.

"Who are you?" Lucy asked.

"My name is Lucy Cartwright too. I lived a hundred years ago, and I was a happy little girl until this terrible man came and tore apart my family. He imprisoned me in all mirrors and did similar horrible things to my family members. I haven't seen any of them since! Only you can help me get out, Lucy. Please!" the other Lucy said to her with a tortured expression on her face.

"So he was like an evil wizard or something?" Lucy asked her newly found cousin.

"Yes, something like that. He was a trickster, a nameless thing. He tricked us all and trapped us. Please free me!" the little Lucy said with pain in her voice.

"How?" Lucy asked with compassion.

"All you have to do is touch your hand to the mirror. It will free me," the little Lucy said with a smile.

"What happens then?" Lucy asked her little cousin.

"I will have a body again, and I can finally hunt down my family and free them as well. We will all be together and happy again!" little Lucy said with a giggle.

"So you'll become solid again once you leave the mirror is that how it works?" Lucy asked skeptical.

"Yes, something like that. It's very hard to explain, and I'm not sure that I understand it myself. I just know that it works," the little girl said with a smile.

Lucy hesitated, but she couldn't stand to see the little girl's pain filled expression. Finally, she relented and put her hand to the mirror. She stood there in silence for a minute and waited to see what would happen.

The little girl slowly walked up to her and put her hand against hers from the other side of the mirror as she closed her eyes. Then a minute later, she opened her eyes again as a wide triumph filled smile came upon her face!

"Genetic transference is complete! Now your body is mine to take!" the little girl said with an evil smile on her face.

Lucy was now aware that she had been tricked but it was too late. She couldn't move her hand from the mirror!

"What are you going to do with me?" Lucy asked fearing she already knew the answer.

"I'm taking your body and leaving you in the mirror in my place!" the little girl said with a soft laugh.

Then that's exactly what she did. Lucy wound up inside of her bedroom mirror while she watched her body twirl around the room in glee.

"I'm free, Lucy! Thank you so much! After so long, I'm free!" the little girl said through her body.

"Please let me go!" Lucy shouted at her.

"I'm afraid I can't do that. I have to leave you in there so that the Doctor will still think that I am trapped. If there were suddenly no one in the mirror, then he would be alerted and would find me out. I can't have that. He must not know that I have escaped until I have taken his family away from him! I will do to him what he did to me!" the little girl said.

"Who are you?" Lucy asked her with a sad voice.

"I'm sorry, my dear, but I tricked you. I'm not Lucy Cartwright from long ago. I'm the one who killed her and took her body. My real name is Sister/Daughter of Mine, and I am a part of the Family of Blood! Now that I have returned, it is my life's goal to destroy the Doctor by taking away the person he loves the most, his wife!" Sister of Mine said with an evil cackle.

"What happens to me?" Lucy asked as she grew ever more depressed.

"You will stay in the mirror of course! Don't worry! I will visit you often and talk to you so you don't get lonely!" Sister of Mine said to her with a sympathetic look on her face.

"Just let me go!" Lucy cried out in pain.

"I will, Lucy. Eventually I will give you your body back. You see I don't want to keep your form forever. I'll die in a few weeks if I do because now I've started using up my remaining lifespan once again since I've left the world of the mirror. I have to find the body of a Time Lord in order to stay alive forever. I know just the one too. I'm going to take the body of the Doctor's wife. I'm going to become the Bad Wolf!" Sister of Mine said with a long, hard laugh.

"For now though, I rather like this body. It's nice to be an adult again after a century of being trapped as a child." Sister of Mine said with a happy grin.

As she saw Lucy slump to the floor of the mirror world in despair, Sister of Mine looked at her and said, "Don't be like that, Lucy. I will free you I promise. I've grown rather fond of you. I'll keep you around as a servant when my family and I take over this world. I'll take good care of you!" Sister of Mine promised her.

Lucy began to shake with sadness and despair as she started crying.

Sister of Mine shook her head as she watched Lucy. Humans! She had just promised her that she wouldn't hurt her and that she would even take care of her! What more did she want? Ungrateful!

Still she did feel badly about Lucy being upset. She would find a way to make it up to her later somehow.

She started at those thoughts, and her eyes widened in surprise. Where had that sudden sympathy for the human come from? She had never felt anything for any of them before. Ever since she assumed her form though, she had being having feelings of near friendship for Lucy. She wondered if in assuming control of her body she had somehow gained a part of her emotions as well. She didn't understand why this would be though because it hadn't happened before when she had stolen the little girl's form. She would have to deal with that later if that was the case. She couldn't allow herself to be contaminated by these human weaknesses!

As she heard Lucy continue to cry though, Sister of Mine couldn't help herself. She went back to the mirror and said in a kind voice, "I'll let you go soon, Lucy! I promise! Please stop crying! I'll let you go and set you free!"

Lucy looked at her in confusion. What was happening here? Sister of Mine seemed to change personalities by the moment. Was this some kind of trick?

Sister of Mine looked confused as well. She just smiled at Lucy and walked away without saying another word.

She would be glad when she had the Time Lady's body and could be rid of all of these human emotions!

**Next: Rose returns as she confronts Sister of Mine. Also she has a much needed talk with Mickey! **


	29. Chapter 29

CHAPTER 29

I do not own Doctor Who, and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews! **

Mickey had gone home from his tour in Cardiff with Rose and Shareen and was ready to call it a night. Martha was already asleep, and he was getting ready to join her when suddenly he wasn't in his home at all! His surroundings had completely changed, and he was now standing in the middle of the Powell Estate. It was the middle of the night, and no one was about.

What is going on here? He thought to himself. Then it hit him. She was still mad! Rose was still angry about what he had said. She had only pretended to forgive him for Shareen's sake because she didn't want to ruin their day together.

Rose suddenly appeared in a shower of golden light a few feet away from him. He knew instantly that she was very angry with him, but that she was trying not to show it yet. She had a smile on her face to reassure him. He knew Rose very well, and he could tell that she was trying her best to stay calm. He was going to have to tread carefully here.

"Did you ever think that our lives would wind up the way that they are now when we were living here as kids? Could you ever have guessed it in your wildest dreams?" Rose said with a strained but cheerful tone to her voice.

Mickey didn't say anything. He wasn't sure if he should. He just stayed quiet.

Some of Rose's anger faded as her eyes turned fearful.

She said to him in a soft and gentle voice, "You know that I'm mad, don't you? I want you to know though that I would never hurt you. I would never do that no matter how mad I am. You don't have to stay quiet, Mickey. You don't ever have to be afraid to speak your mind around me."

She looked like she wanted to move closer to him, but then decided against it. She waved her hand, and a chair appeared out of nowhere on the ground for her to sit in. Another chair appeared beside Mickey, and he slowly sat down in it. He still wasn't sure what to do. He wasn't exactly afraid of Rose, but he also didn't want to be yelled at by her either.

Rose could see that he wasn't going to speak anytime soon so she decided to tell him how she felt about what he had said to her.

"You really hurt me, Mickey! I can't believe that you would doubt that I'm still me after knowing me all of my life. Can't you tell who I am? Don't you know just by listening to me speak? What you said wounded me down to the core of my soul!" Rose said in a very hurt voice. Tears started to fall down her cheeks.

As he had listened to her speak, Mickey finally realized for the first time with complete one hundred percent certainty that this was still the same Rose Tyler that he had known her entire life. He felt waves of grief come over him that he had hurt his friend so badly. He really had believed for a while that she might not be Rose, but that didn't excuse it though. He should have known. He had known her longer than anyone except for her mother.

"I am so sorry, Rose! When I saw you acting oddly, it made me think that you had been replaced after all, and that I was being had. I didn't want to disrespect you by pretending that you were still around if you weren't. It's because I love you so much that I didn't want to pretend that you were still you when I thought that you weren't. I was wrong though, and I should have known that. I am so, so sorry!" Mickey said as his voice shook with emotion.

Rose got up and put her arms around him as he kept repeating to her that he was sorry.

Suddenly they were both startled to hear a voice familiar to Rose speak to them.

"I'm sorry that I caused this rift between the two of you," the voice of Arkytior said.

Arkytior, the first Rose, appeared before them with her eyes glowing and surrounded by golden energy. The glow faded from her, and she stood there with a sad look on her face as she looked at the two of them.

Rose and Mickey both looked at her in absolute shock.

"Is that . . .?" Mickey asked Rose.

"Yes, that's me. The first me," Rose said to him with a nod and an expression of complete bewilderment on her face.

"She moves like you and has your expressions. That's how I knew. You really are the same person, aren't you?" Mickey said as that realization suddenly dawned on him.

"Yes, I am she and she is me. I'm also Rose Tyler too though. I am both of us put together with the main influence being my life as a human being," Rose said to him.

Mickey looked at her with a small smile on his face as he said, " "I am she and she is me"? Do you know how that sounds?"

Rose just gave him a grimace as she said, "I know, I know. I sound like a nutter! The brains of Time Lords just work differently, that's all. We just think differently than humans, and sometimes our thoughts come out all weird like that. That's the best explanation that I can give you."

"I think you're all just weird!" Mickey said with a grin.

Then, his face fell again as he said, "I'm sorry! I shouldn't have said that. You're already upset about me having said something stupid to you before."

"Yes, I am. I'm trying to forgive you for it, but I just can't yet. I know that I will eventually because you're my oldest friend, but I just can't yet," Rose admitted.

"This arguing is my fault. I shouldn't have kept taking control of you. This is your life now, Rose. I just wanted to do things again so badly. I hate being kept inside of your mind and watching you get to live the life that I could have lived if I hadn't have been such a coward!" Arkytior said to Rose.

"I'm sorry about what happened to you, and how you had to regenerate the way that you did before it was your time. It turned out good though, didn't it? Now I get the life both of us always wanted! Even if you can't live it yourself, you can still live it through me, right? After all, we're the same person!" Rose said.

"How can you be here if you're her?" Mickey asked Arkytior in confusion.

"I used Bad Wolf to project a mental image of myself that only the two of you can see. I may appear solid to you, but I'm actually not here at all. I only exist in Rose's mind now," Arkytior explained to him.

"I'm sorry that you died. You were very pretty, and you seem so nice," Mickey told her sincerely.

Arkytior smiled and so did Rose.

"Thank you! I guess I've just been trying to recapture my life. A life that's long gone now. Please don't ruin Rose's life because of my stupidity. It was me doing the things that seemed unlike her. She is very much herself now. I can guarantee you, Mickey, that she is near one hundred percent Rose Tyler and very, very little me. The only part of her that comes from me is my memories and my emotional attachments to them. She really is her own person, Mickey," Arkytior said.

Mickey nodded and said, "I realize now just how stupid I was being. I'm really sorry, Rose. Please forgive me. I hope that you do someday even if you can't now. I never want to lose you as a friend. I love you, Rose, and I always will!"

Rose put her arms around him and held him. He then put his arms around her, and the two of them held each other for a long time without speaking. Their silence seemed to do all of the talking for them.

Finally, Rose said, "I do forgive you, Mickey!"

She then broke away from him and smiled a genuine smile at him with no trace of anger in it anymore.

"We're okay now, Mickey," Rose said to him with a soft smile.

"What about us?" Arkytior said to her.

Rose turned to her with a smile too.

"We're okay too," Rose said to her.

"I won't bother you anymore, Rose. You won't hear from me again," Arkytior promised her.

"No! Don't do that. I don't mind talking to you or getting your advice occasionally. I just don't want you taking me over anymore without my permission. Do we have a deal?" Rose asked her.

"Deal!" Arkytior agreed with a smile.

"That sounds good. I'm sure I'll be hearing from you again in the future," Rose said with a grin.

"You can count on it! See you later, Rose! Good bye, Mickey!" Arkytior said to them with a smile as she faded away.

Rose turned to look at Mickey with a big grin on her face as her hearts were now healing once again.

"You thought she was pretty, huh? Was she prettier than me? Was she prettier than Martha?" Rose asked him with a cheeky grin.

Mickey started to look red faced and opened his mouth to speak but could say nothing.

"Maybe I should tell Martha about your new girlfriend," Rose teased him.

"Stop it! I was just trying to make her feel better. She was so sad!" Mickey said with a look of embarrassment on his face.

Rose turned serious as she said, "Yes, I know. Thank you! I appreciate it!"

Mickey looked confused.

"Is that coming from her or you?" Mickey asked her.

"Both!" Rose said with a mischievous grin on her face.

Mickey just shook his head and said nothing else as she gave him a short hug.

"It's time for you to go to bed now, Mr. Smith," Rose told him in a motherly voice.

"Yeah, I would love that. I really am exhausted right now," Mickey said.

"I can tell. You look like you're about to fall asleep any minute," Rose said to him with a small grin.

"Could you send me back home now?" Mickey asked her.

Before Rose could answer, they both turned in surprise as they heard a strange voice say, "Oh, don't go! Please stay! I want you to witness me defeat the mighty Bad Wolf and claim her body as my own."

There in front of them stood a woman in her late 20's with long blonde hair who was smirking at them.

"Hello, Rose Tyler! I've heard so much about you. I'm here to take your body now. Do you have any problems with that?" Sister of Mine said with a grin.

"I certainly do! I've had enough of people possessing me lately! It's not happening again. You can just go home right now, whoever you are!" Rose shouted at her.

"Oh, I'm sorry but I can't. You see I have to kill you so that I can live. I'll die without a Time Lord body and what better one than yours. I get to live forever and get my revenge on the Doctor at the same time!" Sister of Mine said with a chuckle.

"Oh, wonderful! Another one of the Doctor's crazies come back seeking revenge. Doesn't he have any nice, sane normal enemies?" Rose said as she rolled her eyes in annoyance.

Mickey just looked at her like she was the crazy one. This kind of thing really was just another day at the office for her, wasn't it?

**Next: Rose vs. Sister of Mine. It's ****not**** just another day at the office! One of Sister of Mine's family members may decide to pay a visit as well! **


	30. Chapter 30

CHAPTER 30

I do not own Doctor Who, and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews! **

Sister of Mine suddenly disappeared, and then reappeared next to Mickey. It looked to Rose like she had literally popped out of his reflection in a puddle of water lying at his feet!

She wrapped her arm around Mickey's neck and put him in a choke hold. He tried to force his way out of it, but she was unnaturally strong. He was held fast in her grip. His eyes went back in his head as he started to pass out from lack of breath.

Rose looked at him in concern and said, "If you hurt him, you won't be able to run far enough to get away from me!"

Sister of Mine noticed Mickey's gasps for air and released her grip on him just enough for him to breathe.

"I'm sorry!" she apologized to him.

She then had a strange look on her face as she couldn't understand why she had just apologized to a human. Rose couldn't understand it either. People who tried to kill you usually weren't too sorry about it in her experience.

"Give me your body now, and I promise I won't kill him," Sister of Mine said.

"I can't do that. If you have my powers, you'll be able to destroy entire planets. I can't let you do that," Rose said as she looked at Mickey with a sorrowful expression.

Mickey just gave her a quick but reassuring smile. He understood. She couldn't let her personal feelings for him endanger the whole universe.

"I don't want to destroy anyone. That was what the rest of my family wanted. I was a kid so I just kind of had to go along with it. I just want to live. I need your body to live," Sister of Mine said.

"And to get revenge on the Doctor," Rose said. She wasn't going to let her play the innocent here.

"That's a perk!" Sister of Mine said with a grin.

"Sorry. I'm not going to roll over and just give it to you," Rose told her.

Mud from the rain soaked ground suddenly formed into clay men at her command, and they began to march forth into the homes of the various people living at the Powell Estate as they busted down several doors!

"Leave them alone! They've done nothing to you!" Rose shouted at her in anger.

"Give me the body, or I'll destroy them!" Sister of Mine threatened.

"You obviously don't know who you're dealing with," Rose said as she shot beams of golden energy into each of the busted down doors.

The clay men went flying back out of the various homes, and the doors came back up as they had been before. Amazingly, no one had been awakened or disturbed by their entrance! Rose had made sure of that by putting them all in a deep sleep for those few moments.

The clay men crumbled to dust as Rose glared at them angrily. She had torn them apart atom by atom.

Sister of Mine looked at Rose in fear. She had heard that she had power, but she didn't know that it was on this scale as to actually manipulate things on an atomic level! She had picked the wrong Time Lady.

This didn't deter her though. She had an ability that Rose didn't know that she possessed, and she was going to use it against her.

She disappeared back into the reflection in the puddle and let Mickey go. Suddenly, she reappeared in the reflection in the glass of a window a few feet behind Rose.

Sister of Mine suddenly leaped out of the reflection and fell on top of Rose. She wrapped her powerful arms around Rose's neck, and then proceeded to leave Lucy's body and enter Rose's while she had her distracted by her sudden attack.

Sister of Mine quickly took over Rose's body, and she looked at Mickey in triumph.

"What have you done to her?" Mickey said as he looked at her in fear.

Sister of Mine looked at Mickey with a sympathetic expression as she said, "She's fine. I haven't done anything to her mind. Not yet. I'm going to use her to get to the Doctor. I'll make him suffer, and then I'll destroy him! He won't dare touch me if I'm in his wife, and he still thinks that he can save her!"

"Just let her go. If you need a body, use mine," Mickey offered.

"That's very noble of you, but I want this body. It's immortal and yours only has a few decades left in it. Besides that, Rose wouldn't want you to do that for her. I can hear her thoughts being broadcast loud and clear on the subject," Sister of Mine said.

"What are you going to do after you kill the Doctor? Are you going to take over the world? What are you going to do to Rose?" Mickey asked.

"I meant what I said. I don't want to take over anything. I just want to live a proper life. I won't bother your speck of a world. I don't care about your pitiful species. I just want to live among you in peace. I kind of like it here to be honest. As for Rose, I'm afraid that I'll have to destroy her mind. The two of us won't be able to co-exist for all eternity. It simply won't do!" Sister of Mine said with an evil grin.

"The Doctor won't let you. He'll stop you. You might as well give up now because when he hears what you've done, he'll tear you apart. They don't call him the Oncoming Storm for no reason!" Mickey threatened her.

"I've already experienced his anger first hand! I know what he's like!" Sister of Mine shouted at him.

"I guess you deserved it. The Doctor doesn't bother anyone who doesn't have it coming," Mickey said confidently.

Sister of Mine had a sad look come on her face after he said that.

"I killed a man once. He was just trying to help me. He thought that I was a simple innocent child. I shouldn't have done that. I . . ." Sister of Mine said as a wave of grief washed over her like a wave.

She shook her head and came back to her normal self.

"What is happening to me?! I've never even thought about that man before in the last hundred years since I killed him. Not once! Now I'm feeling guilty about him? Something is wrong," Sister of Mine said in confusion.

Suddenly Rose's voice started speaking out of her mouth again for a moment as she said, "I know what it is. I've been inside of your memories. You did a genetic transfer with Lucy in order to take control of her body from inside of her mirror. Only you got more than you bargained on once you did it. Lucy is an empath! She can feel the emotions of others, and they affect her own emotional state. That's the only explanation for your sudden growth of a conscience. You're become emphatic too now. You're being affected by the emotions of everyone around you. Soon you won't be able to harm anyone ever again because it will affect you too deeply if you do. You're losing your edge, Sister of Mine!"

Sister of Mine took back control of Rose's body, and her eyes widened with horror as she realized that Rose was right. It all made sense now in hindsight. It explained why she had suddenly started feeling fond of Lucy as soon as she took her body over when she hadn't felt anything but contempt for her before that.

"Is this reversible?" Sister of Mine wondered to herself aloud.

"Why would you want to? Having a conscience is a good thing!" Mickey said to her honestly.

"Not when it makes you feel terrible," Sister of Mine complained.

"That's what it's supposed to do. It keeps us from doing bad things to each other," Mickey explained to her as if to a child.

He realized thought that that was what she still was. She had been stuck as a child for the last hundred years, and she had never gotten a chance to grow up.

"I don't want it. I want it gone!" Sister of Mine whined like a spoiled brat.

"Too bad! It's permanent," Rose's voice said out of her mouth.

"No. I won't have it. I won't have myself feeling anything for these stupid primitives!" Sister of Mine protested.

She turned on Mickey and advanced on him menacingly. He began to back away from her in fear.

"I'll show you, Rose. I'll show you that this emphatic stuff is not going to stop me. I'll kill your friend here with your own hands!" Sister of Mine shouted at Rose.

Mickey fell over onto his back trying to get away from her because he knew that Rose's powers could incinerate him in an instant.

Sister of Mine stood over him with a big smile on her face, and her hands started to glow. She fired beams of golden energy at Mickey's head; and as Mickey closed his eyes, his last thoughts were filled with Martha!

Nearby, Brother of Mine was watching her in his scarecrow body. He had been freed by Sister of Mine's actions in escaping the mirror. Her escape had weakened his own punishment in some way. Now he was able to move around freely although he was still trapped in the straw body of the scarecrow.

Yes, that's it, Sister of Mine. Use the powers of the Bad Wolf to dominate this planet! Soon this world will belong to us. It will belong to the Family of Blood! Brother of Mine thought to himself with joy.

**Next: A family reunion! It may not go as smoothly as Brother of Mine expects though!**


	31. Chapter 31

CHAPTER 31

I do not own Doctor Who, and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews! **

Sister of Mine's golden beams went past Mickey's head as she stopped herself from killing him at the last second. She couldn't do it! Rose was right. She felt terrible about even thinking about killing the human.

Brother of Mine looked at her in shock and said, "What are you doing? Kill him! He's nothing! Destroy him, and then help me free our parents. We can all take over this world together and use it as the base for a new empire. An empire built to serve us!"

Sister of Mine looked at him with sad eyes for a moment. She knew what she was going to have to do next, and she didn't want to do it. She would give anything not to have to do it. Even though she had changed now, he was still her brother.

"What's happened to you?" Brother of Mine asked her in confusion.

He knew that there was something different about her. She actually seemed to care about these humans now! He couldn't understand it.

"I'm different now. I can't explain it to you, but I can't kill anymore. I don't want to conquer anyone. I just want to live peacefully among them," Sister of Mine told him.

He looked at her as if she were from another planet. This was close to being the truth about her now. She had begun to feel and think like Lucy. Most of her thought that this was a good thing now, but a part of her was still horrified by it. She was slowly coming to embrace it though. She realized that others mattered too now. She wondered in a way if she were finally growing up after all of this time of being a child.

"I don't even know you anymore. You've become another person. If you continue to stand in the way of our goals for this planet, then I shall be forced to destroy you," Brother of Mine threatened her.

Sister of Mine started to cry as she knew that there was no way to avoid a confrontation with him now. She could at least end it as quickly and as mercifully as possible though.

Her eyes glowed as she used her stolen powers to send him back to the fields where the Doctor had imprisoned him. She locked him back in place again where he had been so that he could watch over England once more.

"How could you do this to me?" Brother of Mine said to her as he went back to where he had come from.

Sister of Mine began to cry uncontrollably after he had gone. Mickey actually felt sorry for her and put an arm around her.

"Thank you!" Mickey said to her with a sad look on his face.

"I couldn't do it. I saw her in your mind. She was that woman that I met long ago. I felt your love for her, and I felt that I owed it to her to save your life after what I and my family put her through. Plus it just felt wrong. I've become human! I never would have believed it possible," Sister of Mine said in a melancholy voice.

"I want to say I'm sorry for some reason but I'm not. I think that it's a good thing that you've learned to care about others. Of course, I may be a little biased!" Mickey said to her with a grin.

She found herself smiling back at him. She was actually starting to feel the beginnings of a friendship developing with him. She was more surprised at the new her all of the time.

"That could be influencing your opinion a little bit. That's true. I know I always feel better about someone when they're not trying to kill me," Sister of Mine said to him in a joking manner.

"What are you going to do now?" Mickey asked her without fear of reprisal. He now felt no fear of her whatsoever. She suddenly seemed just like any other woman that he knew.

"I'll be leaving Rose soon, and I'll put Lucy back in her own body. Then I guess I'll go back to the mirror and just live the rest of eternity there. It's what I deserve. I did terrible things, Mickey," Sister of Mine admitted.

"I wish you could get a second chance. I think that you deserve one," Mickey said honestly.

Sister of Mine kissed him on the cheek and smiled at him as she said, "Thank you! I don't really deserve one though I don't think. Thank you for the sentiment, however, especially after I just tried to kill you. You're a special person, Mickey Smith. Martha is lucky to have you!"

"Could you tell her that? I keep telling her that all of the time, but she doesn't listen to me," Mickey joked.

Sister of Mine got quiet all of a sudden and nodded.

"You're right. I do need to talk to her," She said to him.

"What?" Mickey said in surprise.

"You'll see later. Go home now, Mickey. Don't worry about Rose. I promise I'll free her," Sister of Mine said to him with a reassuring smile.

She waved a hand at him, and he suddenly found himself at home in his bedroom once again. Despite what Sister of Mine had said though, he did worry about Rose. He always worried about Rose. She was his best friend, after all.

Martha woke up immediately as she sensed his presence there.

"Where have you been? It's three in the morning!" She said to him in a slightly angry but mostly worried voice.

"Martha, I met an old enemy of yours tonight. Someone called Sister of Mine," Mickey said.

Martha's eyes went wide with terror at the name.

"Tell me everything!" she said to him.

As Mickey was explaining what had just happened to Martha, Sister of Mine pulled Lucy back out of her mirror and into her body once again. Lucy got to her feet and looked at her with fear in her eyes.

Sister of Mine could see this; and she put an arm around her as she said, "I'm so sorry, Lucy! I'm going away soon, and you'll never see me again I promise. I hope that you have a happy life now. Please try to forget that this all ever happened!"

Sister of Mine actually started to tear up a little as she put both arms around Lucy and gave her a full hug.

"I am truly, truly sorry! Good bye!" Sister of Mine told her in a choked up voice.

Lucy could tell that she really meant it; and she said, "I forgive you! I hope that you get to have a good life too wherever you go!"

Sister of Mine looked at her with a surprised look on her face and simply said, "Thank you!"

She smiled a peaceful smile at her as she left in a shower of golden energy. She had one last place to go before she would go back to the mirror again. She had someone to apologize to first.

She shocked Martha by appearing standing next to her in her bedroom while Mickey was on the phone in the next room asking the Doctor if Rose had returned yet or not. Martha looked scared out of her mind, but she began to reach for a gun that she kept under her pillow anyway. She knew that it would do no good against Rose, but it made her feel a little better anyway.

"I won't hurt you. I came here to apologize to you! I feel so sorry now about what my family and I did to you. I just want to say that. I'm sorry!" Sister of Mine said with an earnest expression on her face.

Martha was puzzled. This wasn't what she was expecting at all. She said nothing because she didn't know what to say.

Sister of Mine seemed to understand, and she smiled sweetly.

"I wouldn't know how to respond to that either I suppose. I just want you to know that I'm going back to the mirror now. You don't have to be afraid of me, Martha. You'll never see me again. I'm just glad that I got this opportunity to apologize to you. Good bye, Martha! Have a good life!" Sister of Mine said as she disappeared.

Martha stood there looking stunned and still hadn't moved when Mickey came back in the room a minute later.

Sister of Mine now stood alone next to a mirror in the Palace of Versailles in Paris. If she were going to be trapped anywhere for all of eternity, she could think of worse places. She had heard about this place in Rose's memories and decided to make it her new home. She left Rose's body just as she promised and became the little girl trapped in mirrors once again.

Rose looked at her with a warm smile and said, "Is this really what you want, Sister of Mine? Do you really want to be stuck here forever?"

"It's what I deserve, Rose," she said as she spoke in a little girl's voice once again.

"I think that Mickey's right. You do deserve a second chance," Rose told her.

Sister of Mine shook her head.

"No! Look what I did just today. I possessed poor Lucy and you. I almost killed Mickey! I deserve to be right here, Rose," she told her.

"What if you could make up for what you did though? What if you could help people instead of just rotting in here and helping no one?" Rose said to her with an earnest look on her face.

Sister of Mine seemed to consider it for a moment.

"I would like that. I would like to make up for what I've done, but what if I became bad again? What if I became like I was? Lucy's conscience might wear off, and then I would hurt people again. I don't want to take that chance, Rose. I don't want any more lives on my conscience," she said with an anguished look on her face.

"It won't wear off, honey. It's a permanent change to you now. Besides that, it's helped you grow as a person and learn to value others. Even if you did lose it, you would still feel bad about hurting people now anyway. You've changed forever, Sister of Mine. There's no going back," Rose said confidently.

"I wouldn't want to," she said honestly.

Rose nodded and said, "Good. Then you won't mind it if I release you from the mirrors and give you a new body to inhabit then?"

Sister of Mine looked at her in disbelief.

"You would do that for me after what I did to you?" she asked incredulously.

"You never really possessed me! I let you keep control of me because I was testing you. I wanted to see what you would do. I wanted to see if you truly had changed. I know now that you have. I truly believe you deserve to get a chance to make up for what you've done," Rose said with a compassionate look on her face.

Sister of Mine just looked at her in stunned silence. Then she smiled and began to tear up as her body shook with emotion.

"Thank you! Thank you so much!" she said to Rose.

"I'm happy to do it," Rose said as her hands glowed with energy; and Sister of Mine found that she could suddenly step out of the mirror and become a flesh and blood human being once again!

She now looked like a grown up version of the little girl that she had been a minute ago. She also found that she remembered that little girl's memories and seemed to have some of her personality. It was like she was little Lucy Cartwright from 1913 and herself all wrapped up together as one person. It was as if the little girl that she had killed was getting a second chance too right alongside her. She liked that.

She put her arms around Rose and hugged her tightly.

"Thank you! You won't regret it. I'll do my best to live a good life for me and for the little girl," she promised.

"I'm sure that you will. I left you with your ability to go in and out of mirrors and all of your abilities that you had before except for one. You don't have the possession ability anymore because you're permanently human and imprinted with the memories and DNA of the little girl whose body you took now," Rose explained.

"That's okay. I don't want to ever take anyone over ever again," Sister of Mine said.

Rose smiled happily at her and then said, "Well, where are you going now?"

Sister of Mine looked at her with an uncertain expression on her face as she said , "I don't know. Do you think that maybe anyone would take me in until I could get a place of my own?"

Rose smiled as Lucy appeared in a golden shower of light right next to her.

"I think that something might be arranged," Rose said happily.

"I want you to come back and stay with me. I want to help you," Lucy told Sister of Mine.

She looked at her unbelievingly.

"You would do that for me after what I did to you?" Sister of Mine asked in complete disbelief.

"I don't think you're evil. I think that you're someone who went down the wrong road thanks to your family's bad influence on you. You want to redeem yourself now, and I want to help you do that. I feel like I should help you because a part of you is a member of my family. I want to give her a chance to get to live again too. Please stay with me and let me help you and her, okay?" Lucy said to her.

Sister of Mine nodded and hugged Lucy to her.

"Thank you!" Sister of Mine said with gratitude.

"What should I call you? I can't keep calling you Sister of Mine. That would get us weird looks in public!" Lucy asked her new roommate.

Sister of Mine thought for a moment and said, "How about Michelle? Michelle Jones!"

"I like it! Very nice to meet you, Michelle," Lucy said with a smile as she shook the newly named Michelle's hand.

"It's very nice to meet you too, Lucy. Thank you for helping me!" Michelle said to her.

The two of them were sent back to Lucy's house by Rose to start their new life together.

Rose smiled as she realized that Michelle had named herself after Mickey. Apparently he had made quite an impression on her.

Rose disappeared in a shower of golden energy as she went back to reassure everyone that she was okay. Her last thought as she left was that she wished Michelle well.

**Next: Rose and her friends get involved in another new adventure as Emma and Penny get used to their new relationship with each other. Also Jack continues to get closer to Penny.**


	32. Chapter 32

CHAPTER 32

I do not own Doctor Who, and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews! **

Rose drove down the road in her TARDIS' pink sports car form with Shareen riding shotgun beside her. Emma, Penny, Oswin, and Gwyneth had stayed inside of the TARDIS. They got a bit nervous at Rose's driving and decided to remain on the inside where they didn't have to experience it first-hand.

Shareen, however, was used to it. She had to admit that Rose's complete and utter lack of driving skills did used to bother her once, but now she hardly batted an eye as Rose almost took out a whole row of mailboxes or narrowly avoided running into a fire hydrant.

"You're the bravest one amongst them, aren't you? The rest of them won't dare to come up here. You will though because you're a true friend, Shareen," Rose said to her with a grin. She appreciated Shareen's loyalty to her.

"That and I'm just a little bit crazy," Shareen said to her with a giggle.

"You have to be to travel with me," Rose agreed with a small smirk.

"Where are we going? Are we going to stay in this time, or are we actually going to travel to another time and place this time?" Shareen asked her.

"I think that I'll see how this car travels through the Vortex while I'm driving it. Let's go visit an old friend of mine, Charles Dickens. I promised him that I'd come back one day. I'm going to come back the next day after I left him the last time. I've got to give him a little bit of a break from me after all," Rose said to Shareen with a wide face sized grin.

"The Charles Dickens?!" Shareen said in awe.

Rose nodded with a small laugh.

Shareen was beside herself with joy. She couldn't wait to meet him!

The pink sports car began to dematerialize as Rose drove, and it entered the Vortex. The windshield and windows of the car protected Shareen from the effects of the Vortex and still gave her a very limited and toned down view of it that wouldn't overload her mind.

She gasped in awe at what she did see of the beauty of the Vortex. It was magnificent! Words couldn't describe the majesty of what she saw. She never knew that this was what it looked like. She never even gave a passing thought really to just what they traveled through whenever they went somewhere in the TARDIS.

Rose looked at her reaction with a pleased smile on her face. She loved being able to show this to her. She was beginning to understand the pleasure that the Doctor felt whenever he showed new things to his companions. It was always nice to see the universe through new eyes and from a new point of view.

They finally materialized the day after she had last seen Dickens during the whole Spring-Heeled Jack incident. The snow from before was melting some now, but there was still plenty of it around.

She stopped the car and flipped open a hidden panel in the car's dashboard. TARDIS controls could be seen underneath it, and she punched in a command that would change the car into a small shed. She decided to go with what Charles had thought that the Doctor's TARDIS was years ago. Why not? She mused with a smile.

Rose and Shareen suddenly disappeared from the car seats and reappeared in the console room just before the car changed into a shed.

Shareen gasped in fear and surprise for a moment. Rose realized that she had forgotten to tell her friend that that would happen.

She looked at her apologetically as she said, "Sorry!"

"You should be! You almost gave me a heart attack! Next time, before you do something like that warn me first!" Shareen said to her with an angry look that quickly turned to a small smile as she gave her a one-armed hug. She wanted her to know that she knew it hadn't been done on purpose.

"That's another reason I don't drive with her. She did that to me once," Penny said with a small grin.

Rose pretended to glare at her for a minute before she finally laughed at her comment. She prided herself on the good natured friendship she had with all of her companions. She never ever wanted to act all grumpy or angry with them like a certain someone sometimes did with her. She wanted them to enjoy traveling with her and never feel uncomfortable around her for any reason. She just wanted it to basically be a trip through time and space with her mates!

"I promise I won't ever do that again without telling you about it first," Rose told Shareen with a sincere look on her face. She gave her an apologetic hug.

"Hey, don't worry about it. I wasn't really mad," Shareen said to her with a reassuring smile.

"Welcome to Cardiff, 1869. Charles Dickens is still doing his reading of A Christmas Carol here today luckily. It was mysteriously extended after someone requested that he give an encore performance for one more day," Rose said with a mischievous look on her face.

"That someone was you right?" Penny guessed with a smirk.

"Yes and no. I haven't done it yet but I will do," Rose said with a smile.

She cringed as she realized that she sounded like Idris or the Doctor.

"Time Ladies!" Penny said as she rolled her eyes at Rose's timey wimey sense of speech.

They all went to the wardrobe to get dressed in Victorian style dresses except for Oswin. She just made some changes to her perception filter and in about two minutes she was suddenly dressed in a new white dress.

Rose spotted her sudden change out of the corner of her eye as she was standing in the wardrobe room trying to decide on a dress.

"I wish it was that easy for me. I still haven't made up my mind yet," Rose said to her with a small giggle.

"It's the only dress for this time that I have programmed into the Perception Filter," Oswin admitted.

Rose looked at her sadly for a minute as she had a small peek into just how hard it must be for Oswin not to have a real human body.

She had briefly considered trying to change her back to human but to affect such a complete transformation between two such widely different species as Daleks and humans wasn't something that she was sure that she could do yet. Maybe in the future but she was unsure of her ability to do it successfully right now without seriously injuring Oswin or driving her insane. She swore that someday she would give her her life back though!

"I'll see what I can do about programming some different choices into it for you. You shouldn't be stuck with just one thing like that. It is a very pretty dress though. Good work!" Rose said to her with a small smile.

Oswin shook her head as she said, "You don't have to do that. That will take a lot of time. I'll have to be without it for all of that time and everyone will see me for what I really am."

I'll wait and do it when we're all alone in the Vortex for a good long time. It will just be us and the girls. They won't care, Oswin. They're not going to suddenly freak out if they have to see you as a Dalek for a few hours. They already know about you," Rose said reassuringly.

"I just don't feel comfortable around anyone without it. Not even my friends," Oswin admitted nervously.

Rose walked up to her with a compassionate look on her face as she said, "We're not going to act any differently towards you I promise. You're our friend. Stop acting like you have to use the perception filter as a shield between yourself and us. You don't need it around us, Oswin. You could go around here as a Dalek all of the time if you wanted to. It honestly wouldn't bother me."

"It isn't you and the others. Not really. It's me! I don't want to see myself as I truly am. I prefer the illusion. I don't think I could take seeing what I really am for that long. I might just go insane, Rose!" Oswin admitted as she started tearing up.

"I'm sorry. I misunderstood. I didn't mean anything by it. You don't have to ever turn it off.

Oh, I am such an idiot!" Rose said as she ran from her upset.

Of course she doesn't want to see herself. I'm so stupid! Why couldn't I see it from her point of view better? Rose thought to herself in anguish.

Suddenly Oswin appeared in front of her causing her to stop suddenly. Oswin caught her before she could fall.

"I'm sorry. I didn't think before I said anything. I missed the obvious. I didn't mean to sound uncaring or unsympathetic to your feelings," Rose said crying.

"That's called being human. We all say things without thinking sometimes and regret it later. I'm not mad, Rose. I know that you were just trying to help me feel better about myself. You just wanted to show that you cared. How could I feel mad about that?" Oswin said to her with a sweet smile.

Rose hugged her for a moment and said fondly, "You're the most human of us all, Oswin!"

"I try to be. I don't want to ever forget what being human is like," Oswin said with a tinge of fear in her voice.

"You won't. You care about it too much. I'll make you human again one day, Oswin. I promise!" Rose said to her with a serious look on her face.

Oswin looked at her in complete surprise. Rose had never said this to her before.

"You don't have to promise me that. That's not your responsibility," Oswin said.

"I can't stand by and watch anyone suffer if I have the power to prevent it. One day I'll be confident enough that I can fix what they did to you; and when I am, I'll make you human again. You have my word on that, Oswin!" Rose said earnestly.

Oswin just looked at her speechless. She didn't know what to say to such selflessness. She just let her actions speak for her as she gave Rose a long affectionate hug. At least her perception filter made it feel like a real hug anyway and got her point across to Rose better than words ever could.

As Rose and Oswin grew closer, Emma and Penny were bonding as well. Ever since they had found out that they were grandmother and granddaughter, the two of them had become inseparable. The one day that they had together with Penny's father had brought them even closer together once he had had to go back to the past. They realized that they still had each other, and that they would both always be linked together by him. He would always be a part of both of them.

Penny wasn't sure what to call Emma at first, but Emma wanted them to stay informal. She told her just to call her Emma. She wanted to stay in the relationship that they already had. She wanted to be more like Penny's sister and friend because she was even younger than her. If she tried to be her grandmother, it just wouldn't work. Besides she was terrified of the thought of it! She didn't know how to be a grandmother. She was still too young to even consider being one.

Penny showed off a pair of dresses to Emma and asked her, "What do you think, Gran? The red one or the blue one? Which one's better?" She said the 'Gran' with a little smile. She knew that it would bother Emma.

Emma looked at her with a sigh of exasperation as she said, "I told you not to call me Gran! Call me Emma! I'd say the blue one's better."

"Fine. That's what I thought too. I just wanted someone else's opinion. You're my elder so I thought that I would ask you," Penny said with an evil grin as she took the blue one into the dressing room with her.

"I'm a few years younger than you," Emma protested.

"You were born over a hundred years ago though so technically you're older," Penny teased her from inside the dressing room.

"Look, Penny it's not that I don't want to be your grandmother. It's just that I don't know how to do that. Grandmothers are old and wise. I never even got the chance to be a mother. Not really. He was taken from me after just a few years. I just don't know how to be what you want me to be," Emma admitted.

"I was just kidding around, Emma. I don't expect you to be anything but my friend. I'm just treating you like I would a good friend. I kid around with my friends all of the time. I don't mean anything by it, honest," Penny explained.

Emma nodded with a sad look as she said, "It's not you. It's me. I feel guilty because I can't be what you need. You need a grandmother, and I can't be her. I'm so sorry about that. I still would love to be your friend though and even a sister maybe someday once we get closer."

Penny came out in the blue dress and looked at her with a look of pure love on her face.

"I don't expect you to be anything to me but what you already are, Emma. You're my friend and my family. It doesn't matter if we don't know what our roles are yet. All that matters to me is that we get along with each other and care about each other, and then we can see where we go from there. I love you, Emma!" Penny said sincerely.

"I love you too, Penny!" Emma said with a small smile.

The two of them went back to getting dressed again as they each felt better about their relationship for the moment.

Jack called Penny on her universal roaming phone that Rose had given to her.

"Hello, Penny. Where does Rosie have you at now?" Jack asked her.

"I'm in 1869. I'm about to go see Charles Dickens again. Shareen's so excited! She's going berserk at the thought of it!" Penny laughed.

"I bet she is! Rose always had a fondness for old Charles too. She was always going on about him back when I traveled with her and the Doctor," Jack said.

"He's a very nice man. Maybe you could come and join us?" Penny asked hopefully.

"I don't know. I'm kind of busy right now. What with running Torchwood and all," Jack said noncommittally.

"Well, it's nice to see where I fall on your list of priorities," Penny said in a huff.

Suddenly she heard a knock on the TARDIS door, and she went to answer it.

She opened it to see Jack standing there with an open phone in his hand and with a big smile on his face.

"Guess what? I made it after all!" He said with a laugh.

"You big idiot! My wonderful, precious idiot!" Penny said to him as she wrapped her arms around him and kissed him.

**Next: Jack joins the group as Rose meets Charles Dickens again. **


	33. Chapter 33

CHAPTER 33

I do not own Doctor Who, and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews! **

Rose's eyes lit up with joy as she saw Jack standing there with his arms around Penny.

"Jack!" she shouted as she was taken totally by surprise by his presence there.

Penny knew what was coming, and she moved out of the way so that Rose could run up to Jack. He enveloped her in a big hug, and he then picked her up and twirled her around as they both laughed.

If this were any other woman, Penny would be insanely jealous of her but not Rose. She knew that Jack didn't think of Rose that way. She was his little sister that he always watched over and protected. The two of them were very close to each other and had a special bond together from what they went through while traveling with the Doctor. It was something that Penny didn't quite understand, but she always respected it and didn't try to stand in their way.

"I'm so glad to see you, Jack! You should have told me you were coming," Rose said after Jack let her go.

"It was a surprise for Penny," Jack explained.

"Oh, so are you two getting closer then? Could she be the one, Mr. Harkness?" Rose said, being half teasing and half serious.

Penny started flushing with embarrassment. She didn't even want to think about marriage yet. They had just now started getting serious about each other! What a way to rush things, Rose! Penny thought as she fixed her with an annoyed look.

Rose realized that she had gone too far and pulled back.

"I'm sorry. I just think that you too would be great together. I don't mean to push though. I've really got to try to exorcise the spirit of my mums from myself. I'm starting to act just like them," Rose said with an embarrassed grin on her face.

"It's okay, Rose. Just stop pressuring us, okay?" Penny said with an understanding face.

She knew that Rose was trying to get them together so badly because she wanted them both to be happy. It wasn't anything more than that. Rose was no busybody who pried into other peoples' lives.

"I'll keep my big mouth shut from now on I promise," Rose said as she pretended to zip her lips up.

"No. I don't want that. I don't mind us talking about it sometimes. I just want to be free to pursue things at our own pace without pressure or thoughts about marriage," Penny said.

Rose nodded. She understood what Penny meant. She wanted her to stop the matchmaking. She promised herself that she would.

She just wanted them both to see what she saw. She could see their timelines intertwined with each other, and they both had a very happy possible future together. She could see many children and much joy. She wanted that for both of them so badly!

She had to stay out of it though. Sometimes she could meddle and others she could not. This was one of the times that she could not.

She could feel her meddling subtly shifting the timelines just now and making them decrease in probability. She had made Penny more uncertain about things by what she had done. She didn't think that she had done too much damage, but the fact that she had done any made her unhappy.

This was definitely one of the downsides to being a Time Lady! Every one of your actions could ripple out and have repercussions on the future without your even realizing it until afterwards. It was at times like this that she missed being just simple Rose Tyler.

Jack could see that sad faraway look in her eyes that she had been getting ever since she had become a Time Lady. He really didn't like that. He didn't like seeing her unhappy. He always felt like it was his job to cheer her up when she got like that.

"So we're going to see Charles Dickens today, huh? Do you and he have a little thing going on? Should the Doc be worried?" Jack teased her.

Rose immediately broke out into a smile at the ridiculousness of his suggestion just like he knew that she would.

"Shut up!" Rose said with a giggle.

Penny laughed at their interactions with each other. This was an example of their brother-sister dynamic in action playing out right in front of her. She always loved to see them joke with each other like that.

Everyone went outside soon afterwards after they finished getting dressed. Rose had finally decided on a magnificent looking pink dress that amply showed off her figure without being too provocative or showy. Sometimes it paid to be picky and wait until you had the right look she thought to herself with pride.

She went to Dickens' reading along with her friends, and he immediately saw her in the audience. He made eye contact with her, and both of them gave each other a wordless signal to meet together later after the reading was over.

Afterwards, Dickens met with Rose outside and jokingly said, "We have to stop meeting like this, Rose. People are beginning to talk. My wife is going to think that I have a new lady friend."

She could tell that he wasn't being serious by the smile on his face. They both knew that there was nothing between them but friendship. It was a deep friendship though. She was amazed at how close she felt to him now after only having met him three times. He was a charming man that was for sure.

Then she saw a look of disbelief cross his face as he saw Gwyneth. He continued to look at her in shock as she walked up to him and said, "Hello, Mr. Dickens. I expect that you never thought that you'd see me again, did you sir?"

"No. I did not. Quite frankly, I thought that you had died, Miss Gwyneth," Dickens said in complete amazement.

"I would have if not for Miss Rose. She saved me from being blown up by the Gelth. She also restored me back to life when the Gelth would have killed me as they used me to come through to this side," Gwyneth explained with a small nervous smile.

As Dickens looked at Rose incredulously, she said, "I don't really know the story behind it either. It hasn't happened for me yet. Time travel's a tricky business, Charles. I don't always have events happen to me in the correct order. Sometimes I have to deal with the aftermath of things that I haven't even done yet."

Dickens looked confused but nodded as if he understood anyway. Rose almost laughed. She remembered when that used to be her nodding along to the Doctor.

Suddenly Rose saw a little girl about ten years old just staring at Charles with fear and apprehension. She knew that she wanted to talk to him but was afraid to. She could see a turning point coming in the girl's life. It was one that would affect not only her but future generations yet to come as well.

Rose could see the girl give up and start to turn away. The ripples started to flow forward and time itself started to be altered right before her eyes. She had to stop her from leaving now before the damage was done.

Rose quickly reached the girl before she had gone too far and put a firm but gentle hand on her shoulder as she stopped her from going any further.

"Hello, honey! You wanted to talk to Mr. Dickens, didn't you?" Rose said to her sweetly.

The little girl was scared at first because she was a stranger. Then she was suddenly put at ease, and she didn't know why. She felt safe and perfectly relaxed now around this woman that she had only just met. She wondered if she were more than an ordinary woman.

"Are you an angel?" the little girl asked innocently.

Rose had to laugh at that. She was hardly a saint.

"No, sweetheart. Why would you ask that?" Rose responded with a sweet smile.

"I feel safe and happy around you. I was feeling worried and scared when you first stopped me and now I don't. That's what an angel does, isn't it? They make feel you feel safe and protected. They help people when they need it the most," the little girl explained.

Gwyneth had been watching this whole conversation with an amused smile on her face.

"Don't let her fool you, little miss. She is indeed an angel. She just doesn't want anyone to know. It's a secret!" Gwyneth told her with a smile as she put a finger to her lips and made a shushing sound.

The little girl laughed and said, "You can trust me. I won't tell!"

"Good. No one must know that she walks among them," Gwyneth said with a wide grin.

Rose just stared at her like she was crazy, then she turned back to the little girl.

"Go back and talk to him. I know that he'll be pleased to hear from you. He always loves talking to his fans," Rose told her sincerely.

The little girl thought it over and then said with a smile, "Okay!"

"Good! What's your name by the way?" Rose asked her as she began to walk her back to Dickens.

"It's Mary. Mary Richards. I came here to Cardiff with my parents. My father's on a business trip. I was supposed to stay in my room and not come out while they were away, but I just had to see Mr. Dickens. I hid in the back of the audience and watched him read. He was magnificent.

I just love his books. I would like to be a writer like he is someday. I know that's not going to happen though. I don't deserve to be in the same room as someone as great as he is," the little girl said with downcast eyes.

"Don't talk like that, Mary! Charles will be grateful to talk to you. He's going to love you. Also don't ever give up on your dreams. I bet you'll make a wonderful writer someday. Maybe you could start a whole family of writers like the Bronte Sisters," Rose said to her with a sneaky look on her face.

"You think so?" Mary looked at her with hope in her eyes.

"Yes, I do. Let's just say that I have the inside track on the future," Rose said with a mysterious gleam in her eyes.

Mary looked confused for a moment and then realization dawned on her face as she said, "Oh, you know the future because you're an angel! Of course!"

Rose looked irritated for a minute but quickly put a smile back on for the little girl.

"No, Mary. I'm not an angel. My friend was just kidding with you for some reason not understandable to me. My name is Rose. You could say that I'm a little psychic if you want I suppose. I know what is most likely to happen in the future. Of course the future is always changing so nothing is absolutely certain," Rose told her with a cheerful tone to her voice.

Mary nodded at her as if she actually understood her. If she does, then she's doing better than Charles! Rose thought to herself.

She took Mary to meet with Dickens, and his face lit up as he saw the little girl. He proceeded to listen to her talk about her dream of being a writer to him with an understanding look on his face. He then smiled at her and encouraged her to believe in herself and in her abilities.

By the time Mary was finished talking to him, she had a huge smile on her face. She was filled with joy after having met the famous writer. She ran up to Rose and hugged her tightly in appreciation.

"Thank you! Thank you so much! I was just going to go back to my room, but you stopped me. If you hadn't, I would have missed out on one of the best days of my life! Is there anything that I can do to repay you, Rose?" Mary asked her earnestly.

"Just stick to your dreams and maybe pass them along to your family. Encourage them to be whatever they want to be. Tell them that they can do anything. Maybe if you had, say a granddaughter or even a great-granddaughter one day; and she came to you wanting to be a writer maybe you could give her some special encouragement. Who knows? She may go on to do something very, very important someday," Rose told her with an enigmatic look on her face.

Mary nodded enthusiastically. She couldn't even imagine having children much less great-grandchildren, but she agreed with what Rose had said. She would encourage everyone in her family to do whatever they wanted. If any of them ever wanted to be a writer, well she would just have to give them extra special encouragement! She would try to make everyone in her family feel as good as Charles Dickens had just made her feel.

Rose smiled to herself as she saw the timelines fall back into place, and the future as she knew it was firmly fixed in its course. This was one of the times that she loved being a Time Lady!

As she watched Mary run off back to her room in a state of euphoria, Rose laughed to herself.

"You say you're no angel, Miss. What did you just do though? You helped her have a better future, didn't you? Maybe affected the life of someone else far into the future as well?" Gwyneth said with a knowing smile on her face.

Rose was taken by surprise by how well she knew her.

"How do you know that?" she asked.

"I've worked a lot with you in the future, Miss. I know how you think and what motivates you. You're always using your abilities to help others. Sometimes you do it in more subtle ways than in saving them from invaders from the stars. Sometimes you just improve one person's life and watch as that person influences others. You are an angel, Bad Wolf. You don't think that you are but you truly are. I know! I always wanted to serve the angels in some way and now I am. I've never had a more important job in my life," Gwyneth said with a wide grin.

Rose looked at her in a new way now as she understood her better. She had a newfound respect for her. She was very perceptive.

"You're right about me in some ways; but I'm no angel I assure you, Gwyneth," Rose said to her honestly.

"Of course not, Miss," Gwyneth said although her face showed that she still believed differently.

The two of them then went back to join Dickens for a peaceful night on the town.

Meanwhile in the present, Sarah Jane Smith looked at a picture of her great-grandmother, Mary, with a smile. Mary had become a famous novelist whose books were still being read today. They were mostly about a mysterious woman who knew the future and used it to help others. It was a best-selling series called The Blonde Angel.

She still remembered that story that she had told her when she was a little girl about the mysterious blonde woman who had encouraged her to be a writer. She had used what the woman had said to her along with her meeting with Charles Dickens to encourage her to become a journalist when she had come to her one day and told her about that being what she wanted to do with her life. She said that the pretty angel had told her to inspire everyone in her family as Dickens had inspired her.

What Mary had said to her that day inspired her as well, and it stayed with her for the rest of her life. One of the reasons that she became a journalist was because of the belief that had been shown in her that day. She did it partly for Mary even though she didn't get to live to see it.

Something about what Mary had said to her about the blonde woman suddenly clicked in her mind, and she opened her eyes wide in shock as a sudden realization hit her like a thunderbolt! She remembered now that Mary had told her that the angel's name was Rose!

After that, Sarah Jane smiled for a long time.

**Next: The adventure with Charles Dickens has only just begun. Be here next time as Rose and company face some of those "invaders from the stars" that Gwyneth was talking about. **


	34. Chapter 34

CHAPTER 34

I do not own Doctor Who, and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews! **

Everything had gone well for about an hour for Rose and her friends as they dined with Charles Dickens in a fashionable restaurant in Cardiff. She had had a very pleasant time, and the food tasted much better than most of the food in her time. For a while, she actually thought that she might have a quiet, uneventful evening.

She was enjoying listening to Charles tell them all about how he came up with A Christmas Carol, when there were several screams outside.

Rose rolled her eyes as she knew that her nice evening had been cut short . . . again!

"I'm sorry, Charles! I'm thinking that I'm going to have to take a rain check on this night out. It was very good while it lasted though." Rose said with a frown.

"It's alright, Rose. Why don't you come back tomorrow? I'll stay in Cardiff an extra day just for you. Surely there must be a day when some menace doesn't attack this place," Charles said with a smile.

"You would think so, wouldn't you? I'll come back again I promise. We will have that dinner together for an entire night while you finish your story. I'll keep the appointment somehow if I have to take you for a ride in my TARDIS and take you to my time. The Doctor would love to see you again anyway," Rose said.

"Maybe you should take me with you to the future. I would love to see it," Charles said with an air of wonder about him as he imagined what it must be like.

"I'll think about it," Rose promised him with a smile as she kissed him chastely on the cheek.

Jack opened his mouth to say something, and Rose shot him a glare of death.

She quickly said to cut him off, "Think before you speak, Jack! I mean I could always make you wear bow ties and tweed every day for a week straight again! Or I could make you wear something worse!"

Jack turned pale as he considered what might be worse than bow ties and tweed!

Rose smiled back at him reassuringly so that he'd know not to take what she had just said too seriously. She was mostly just angry at her day with Charles being interrupted again.

What was it with this time and place anyway?! Rose thought with a groan.

She went outside to see giant grasshoppers and what looked like some kind of mutant species of kangaroos terrorizing the city. The grasshoppers were actually jumping back and forth over Cardiff's highest buildings. They were scaring all of the locals out of their minds, and there was a mass panic as they tried to evacuate as quickly as possible.

Rose reached out to find Mary Richards and sighed in relief as she could see in her mind's eye that she was safe. Her timeline remained unaffected. She was determined that it would stay that way.

Rose summoned the Bad Wolf, and she began to shrink the grasshoppers back down to their normal size. She also changed the kangaroos back to normal and sent them back to Australia.

"There's something familiar about this. Giant grasshoppers and mutant kangaroos?! Where have I come across something like this before?" Rose thought to herself.

"Knowing you, it was probably something you came across just last week!" Penny joked.

"It does seem like something that you would come across on an ordinary day, Rosie!" Jack joined in.

"No. I've never seen them before I know that, but they are familiar somehow. Like someone told me about them once," Rose said as she searched through her memory.

"People of the Earth! You will surrender now to the Great and Terrible Zodin! If you refuse to do so, you will forfeit your useless lives to her immediately as she unleashes her terrifying menagerie of giant insects and mutant creatures to devour and destroy your pitiful planet! Or as an alternative to surrender, the Great and Gracious Zodin will gladly accept a one-time payment of one billion galactic credits in cash. Consider your options wisely, humans. You have one hour to respond!" a voice that sounded like that of a circus ringmaster announced to the citizens of Cardiff.

Rose let out a long, painful groan as she said, "Zodin! Of course! The most annoying con woman in the universe! The Doctor's bored me to tears several times with story after story about her. She's a very irritating idiot who uses trained giant grasshoppers and mutant kangaroos to scare the local populace into giving her a tribute payment so that she'll go away. They never figure out until afterwards that the animals are perfectly safe and tame. Then they call for her head, but she's long gone by that time. This is all a big con job!"

"She sounds like my kind of con artist!" Jack said with a smirk.

Rose and Penny both slapped him as he said, "What?!"

"I believe that you should tell this woman that you are on to her, miss. That would make her go away very quickly if she knew that you were here," Gwyneth suggested.

"I know that you're probably right, but I really wish that someone else could do it. From what I've heard about Zodin, she's a huge coward whenever someone actually confronts her. I don't want to have to deal with her blubbering all over the place while I have to assure her that I'm not going to kill her. Oswin, would you do it? Just convince her that there's a Dalek invasion going on. Please!" Rose begged Oswin.

Oswin laughed at her state of desperation. She had never seen her like this.

"Sure. I'll go put the fear of the Daleks into her, and she'll pack up and leave in about two minutes!" Oswin said with a grin.

Oswin tracked down Zodin by following the energy signature of her ship. It was relatively easy because there were no other alien ships in Cardiff at the moment, except Rose's TARDIS of course.

Oswin, still appearing as human, entered Zodin's ship and detected that there were only two lifeforms on board. A man and a woman. They were a team of cons then.

A middle aged man with thinning hair and wearing a ringmaster's outfit and hat came out to greet her. He smiled warmly at her with a toothy grin as he said, "So you are the representative of the people of Earth then? I must say that I wholeheartedly approve of their choice of ambassador. You are most lovely!"

She recognized his voice as the voice that had threatened Cardiff a few minutes ago. He smiled at her with a big dopey grin on his face for a few minutes. He just kept staring at her without blinking. She began to wonder if he were hypnotized or just plain stupid.

"Hello? Are you okay?" Oswin asked him with an amused grin on her face.

"Oh, sorry! I was just mesmerized by your beauty, my dear! I don't get to see too many pretty girls like you anymore. I mostly just get to see one woman now. Just . . . one!" he said this last word through gritted teeth.

"Melvin! Melvin the Magnificent, are you talking to the representative of Earth on your own?! I told you not to handle things by yourself! You're too incompetent and much too stupid to be trusted with such an important task. I bet you got distracted by a pretty face again, didn't you? They sent a woman, didn't they?" said a female voice.

Out came The Terrible Zodin with a circus performer's style of flashy outfit on. She looked like she were about to put on a show somewhere for a roaring crowd of children. She was a middle aged woman who had clearly seen better days as her face showed that she had had a hard life. Oswin started to feel sorry for her until she opened her mouth again.

"So, they sent the pretty lady to distract us, eh? Do they think that you're going to talk us out of our rightful tribute with your flashy smile and pretty little face, dear? It won't work on me. I demand the one billion credits right now, or we will unleash our most hideous creatures to destroy this useless backwater world! Don't think that I won't do it because I will. I'll reduce this planet to rubble!" Zodin threatened.

Oswin could see Melvin shaking his head in the corner of her eye. He was letting her know that none of what Zodin just said was true. She already knew this of course, but it proved that she could trust him to be honest with her anyway.

"There is going to be no tribute I'm afraid. You see this planet is already paying tribute to its current masters," Oswin said.

"Who would they be exactly?" Zodin said with a smirk. She seemed to be so full of her own self-importance.

Oswin felt bad about what she was about to do, but she could think of no other way to get the woman to leave.

She dropped her disguise and revealed her true form to the two con artists.

"THIS WORLD BELONGS TO THE DALEKS!" she said in her true voice.

Zodin screamed and fainted at the sight of her. Melvin actually rushed in front of his wife and stood protectively over her.

"You'll have to kill me first! She may not be very nice to me sometimes, but I love her with all of my heart!" Melvin said to her with a defiant look on his face.

Oswin felt terrible. She had just wanted them to leave. She even kind of liked Melvin. She had never wanted a scene like this to happen.

She immediately switched her perception filter back on and said to him gently, "I won't hurt you. I just want you to leave. Leave Earth alone and go someplace else."

Melvin studied her face carefully for a moment, and he saw that she truly meant him no harm.

He sighed as he said, "I would love to do that. She's the one that always wants the money all of the time. I got tired of pulling these cons a long time ago. I don't know how to get her to stop though."

"I have an idea," Oswin said as she winked at him.

When Zodin woke up, she saw Oswin back in Dalek form yet again. Oswin was standing in triumph over Melvin, who pretended to be lying unconscious on the floor.

"What have you done to him?!" Zodin screamed in terror.

"HE FOUGHT BRAVELY IN YOUR DEFENSE, BUT HE WAS NO MATCH FOR A DALEK!" Oswin said.

"Is he dead?!" She asked in tears. The money didn't matter to her at all now with the thought of her husband lying there having possibly been killed defending her going through her mind.

"NO. I HAVE SPARED HIS LIFE ON ONE CONDITION. YOU MUST LEAVE THIS PLANET AND NEVER RETURN! IF THE DALEKS EVER CATCH YOU IN THIS AREA AGAIN, WE WILL NOT BE SO MERCIFUL THE NEXT TIME!" Oswin pretended to threaten her.

"You'll never see me again. Just give me my husband and let us go. Please!" Zodin begged her.

She left the ship and turned briefly to see Melvin wink at her and mouth "Thank you!"

She hoped that the plan worked, and Zodin didn't decide to come back.

Once Oswin had left, Melvin pretended to wake up; and Zodin hugged him tightly.

"That's it! I thought that I had lost you, and it would have all been my fault. All because of my stupid cons! No more. I won't ever pull another con job ever again. We're retiring, Melvin! We're going to go somewhere nice and peaceful and live! A place where nothing bad will ever happen to us. Somewhere like Barcelona. Nobody ever invades there, right? I've heard that it's actually a nice place to live. It's full of shopping malls. We'll have a wonderful time there, won't we?!" Zodin told him with an ever widening grin as she thought about shopping all day every day on Barcelona.

Melvin groaned. Even when he won, he still lost. It was the story of his life!

Oswin went back to Rose and said, "I don't think that you have to worry about Zodin anymore."

"Why? What did you do?" Rose asked curious.

"I made her realize what was most important to her," Oswin said with a smile.

**Next: Rose tries one more time to have a nice evening with Charles Dickens. Will it ever go right? Come back next time and see if this time is the charm!**


	35. Chapter 35

CHAPTER 35

I do not own Doctor Who or the Men in Black, and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews!**

Charles Dickens was standing in the street waiting for Rose to appear the next day after he had last seen her. He had arranged to meet her here for one last time before he left Cardiff for good. He hoped that this time everything would actually go right for once.

That just wasn't Rose's luck though. Not when it came to Charles Dickens apparently.

As Charles was waiting for Rose to appear, a group of men dressed in dark suits and hats of Victorian Era design approached him and began to surround him on all sides.

Charles looked at them briefly, and then looked away again as he continued to search for Rose. Then he realized something was odd about them, and he suddenly looked back at them to see that they were wearing dark tinted glasses. He had never seen such glasses before. He knew then that something was wrong about these men. They must be either from the future or from another world.

He started to try to slowly get away from them. He steadily walked away from them at a normal pace with no signs of being in a hurry so as to not arouse their suspicions.

The strange men weren't going to go away though. They started to follow Charles down the street as he walked. He realized that he was in trouble. He started to walk at a brisker pace, but the men just walked faster as well.

Where are you, Rose? Charles thought in his head as he started to run.

As if in answer to his unspoken cry for help, the sound of a materializing TARDIS could suddenly be heard nearby. The strange men and Charles stopped where they were as they saw the Doctor's TARDIS materialize just a few feet away from them!

The Doctor stepped out with a wide grin on his face as he said, "Hello, I'm the Doctor. I believe that you're bothering a friend of mine. I don't take too kindly to that so I suggest that you stop!"

As he said the last sentence, his face switched from a smile to a look of cold anger in the blink of an eye.

"There has been a lot of alien activity in this area in the last few days. We have been sent here by the Alliance of Shadows to keep information on alien activities from spreading. All knowledge of alien activities on Earth must be suppressed. Charles Dickens has been in contact with the race known as the Gelth and has had several instances of meetings with the Time Lady Arkytior. His knowledge of these events must be contained and suppressed." One of the men in black clothing said in a monotone voice.

"I'd prefer him to keep those memories if it's all the same to you," Rose said as she stepped out of the TARDIS with an angry expression on her face.

Charles smiled and sighed in relief when he saw her. He didn't recognize the man who was calling himself the Doctor, and he idly wondered if he might be the younger brother or nephew of the Doctor that he knew.

"You are not authorized to prevent our mission. If you persist in this course of action, then we will have to use lethal force to stop you," the same man in black clothing that had spoken before said.

The strange men pulled off their right hands to reveal the muzzles of laser guns underneath them.

"Ah! I thought so. Men in Black!" the Doctor said as his grin returned for a moment.

Rose looked at him with an amused expression on her face as she said, "You mean like in the movies? Come on!"

"No, that's all fake! It's based on the truth though. These are the real men in black. They're androids employed by the League of Shadows to suppress all knowledge of alien activities on Earth. They wipe the minds of every human who's seen aliens or been involved with them," the Doctor explained.

"That's terrible! I'm glad that they never paid me a visit. I would have slapped those silly glasses off of them," Rose said with a grimace.

"Or your mum would have. She would have had them heading for the hills!" the Doctor said with a smirk on his face.

"Is that another crack about my mum?" Rose looked at him with a fake look of anger that was just barely hiding the smile that was trying to come up on her face.

The Doctor knew that she wasn't really angry so he played along. He loved these little moments with her. He lived for them!

"Oh no, I would never do such a thing. You know how much I love your mum. She's a wonderful person!" the Doctor said with a barely contained grin.

"You'd better not be!" Rose said in an angry tone but with a full blown smile on her face.

She put her arms around him and gave him a long kiss.

The Men in Black looked at each other in confusion. They were uncertain how to handle this situation.

Charles was trying hard not to laugh at the spectacle unfolding before him.

There was silence for a moment as the androids and Charles just stood there watching the two Time Lords kiss and not knowing what to do next.

"I was wondering why it was so silent out here. You two started kissing again while in the middle of fighting aliens, didn't you?" Amy said as she came out of the TARDIS with a big grin on her face.

She walked over to Charles without batting an eye at the Men in Black, and held out her hand to him.

"Amy Pond. You must be Charles Dickens. It's an honor to meet you. I love your books, and I know that the Doctor does. He talks about them a lot. Especially at Christmas. Honestly, he won't shut up about A Christmas Carol when it's Christmastime! Who would have thought that an alien would love Christmas so much?" the Scottish girl said as she shook Charles' hand.

"I'm glad to hear it, Miss Pond. It's good that a love of my books seems to run in the Doctor's family. The Doctor that I knew told me that he was my biggest fan," Charles said as he smiled at her.

Amy looked at Charles puzzled, and then looked at the Doctor for an explanation.

"I was a different man the last time that I met him, Pond," was all that the Doctor said.

She nodded. He had regenerated since then, and Charles Dickens didn't recognize him. She loved it that such concepts didn't seem strange to her anymore. They were commonplace to her now. She loved her life! She thought to herself with a grin.

The Men in Black finally decided to speak up. They had been standing there in confusion long enough.

"We are going to wipe the memory of Charles Dickens of all alien contact. We will terminate you with extreme prejudice if you try to interfere," one of them finally said.

Rose looked at them with an annoyed look and fried their processors with a wave of her hand. They all immediately shut down and stood there in silence.

"Are they dead?" Charles asked her.

"They're deactivated. They were only machines," Rose explained with a smile.

Charles nodded with a feeling of fascination in his heart. Mechanical men! Truly there were many strange things in the universe. It really was a much bigger and wider place than he had ever imagined it to be.

"Why didn't you just do that in the first place?" the Doctor said with a grin.

"Because someone distracted me before I could get a chance to," Rose said to him with a pretend frown on her face.

They started getting closer and closer, and it looked like they were about to start kissing all over again any minute.

"They'll do this all day if I don't put a stop to it. Rose really wants to get to spend a proper day with you so she brought the Doctor along to handle any alien menaces that might pop up, and I came along to handle the Doctor. If I don't stop him, he'll be kissing her all day. Trust me, it's happened! They once started making out in the middle of a fight with the Daleks and forgot all about the Daleks even being there! It really urked them too! I've never heard Daleks so mad!" Amy told Charles with a wide grin.

Charles smiled at her and chuckled. He already liked her after having known her for only a few minutes.

Amy quickly got between the two Time Lords before they could start kissing again and pulled the Doctor away. He groaned and whined like a child, but he didn't put up as much of a fight as he usually would have because he knew that Rose had been looking forward to one decent day with Charles Dickens for a long time now.

Rose finally got to spend an entire meal with Charles as they laughed and talked about his stories, and he finally finished the story about what inspired him to write A Christmas Carol. They had a long and enjoyable night together, and both of them had memories that they would treasure for the rest of their lives.

When it became time for her to leave, Charles asked Rose, "Why did you really insist on coming to spend the evening with me, Rose?"

"I don't know what you mean," Rose said with an innocent expression on her face.

"You know that I don't have too much longer to live, don't you? You wanted to give me a good memory to carry with me in my last days. Something to remember that would give me some happiness when I'll need it the most. I'm right, aren't I?" Charles said to her with a knowing expression on his face.

Rose said nothing. She just put her arms around him and hugged him for a moment. Then she gave him a chaste kiss on the cheek.

"Good bye, Charles," Rose said as she struggled to keep her eyes from tearing up.

"Good bye, Rose. Thank you! You're the kindest person I've ever known. I hope that someday the kindness that you have shown to a dying man is repaid back to you," Charles said.

Rose left without looking back at him. She was afraid that she would burst into tears if she did.

The Doctor put his arms around her in comfort once she got back to the TARDIS. He had known all along why Rose kept insisting on keeping this meeting with Charles. It was so like her to want to give the man one last happy moment. She was always thinking of others before herself. That's who she was. It was one of the reasons that he loved her.

Rose saw Dickens one last time after that. She was at his side as he spent his last day writing on his unfinished novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood. She was also there at the end with him as well. She knew that he was unconscious as he died, but she liked to think that he knew that she was there.

As it turned out, he did.

**Next: An all new adventure for Rose and her friends begins that involves a certain ex-companion of the Doctor's. Can you guess who? **


	36. Chapter 36

CHAPTER 36

I do not own Doctor Who, and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews!**

Sarah Jane Smith somehow wasn't surprised when she heard the sound of a TARDIS materializing inside of her attic. She had been thinking about Rose a lot lately since she had realized that she had helped her great grandmother to decide her course in life a long time ago.

She expected to see the Doctor's blue police box appear, but she was momentarily surprised to see a pink sports car with no one in it appear instead in its place. The trunk of the car opened, and Rose stepped out to greet her.

"Hey, Sarah Jane! How do you like my new TARDIS?" Rose said with a face wide grin.

"I love it! Only you would have your TARDIS take the form of a pink sports car, Rose!" Sarah Jane said laughing.

"You say that like it's a bad thing!" Rose said to her with a smile.

"You do have to admit it is kind of weird," said a voice with a Scottish accent.

"Amy! It's good to see you. Since when did you start traveling with Rose? Won't the Doctor be mad?" Sarah said with a grin.

"I decided to try at least one trip with her since she got a TARDIS with a ton of clothes from Barcelona in it. They're the finest clothes in the universe, and Rose said that I can wear any of them I want! The Doctor's TARDIS' female wardrobe leaves a lot to be desired for in comparison. She also said that I could go shopping on Barcelona with her from time to time. I have to tell you she's really making me consider becoming her full-time companion," Amy said to Sarah with a playful expression on her face.

"I'm slowly winning her over. Soon I'll have her too. She'll make my team complete," Rose said with a goofy grin on her face.

"The Doctor knows what you're doing you know. He's promised to sweeten the deal for me if I stay full-time with him," Amy said.

"What did he offer you?" Rose asked curious.

"He said that he'd make me fish fingers and custard twice a day. He also offered to teach me how to drive the TARDIS. He even offered to let me drive solo for a trip!" Amy said with a look of temptation on her face at the thought.

"Ha! I'll let you drive solo whenever you want. I'll also teach you myself because I'm a better instructor due to the fact that I actually know what I'm doing. I didn't fail the driving test like a certain someone did!" Rose said with a giggle.

"I have to admit that you're making it awfully tempting to dump him for you," Amy said to her with a snicker.

"She's in me power now! Ha! Ha! Ha!" Rose proclaimed in a funny voice that the other two women thought sounded a little like the Master.

"You're a major loony sometimes, you know that?" Amy said as she laughed at Rose's behavior.

"I have been told that on occasion. I'm still not as bad as the Doctor though," Rose said confidently.

"Definitely not! Not even in the same league in terms of sheer weirdness!" Amy said seriously.

Sarah Jane was nodding her head in agreement which made Rose grin with amusement.

"Well, hello!" said a young boy's voice.

The three women turned to see Sarah Jane's young companions, Clyde Langer and Rani Chandra, watching them with interest.

Rose knew who they were from Sarah Jane telling her about them, but she had never actually met them before.

Clyde was grinning at her like a hungry man eyeing a juicy steak. Rose tried not to laugh at his obvious crush on her.

"Hi, you must be Clyde and you must be Rani. My name's Rose and this is Amy," Rose said as she introduced herself and Amy to the children.

"It's very, very nice to meet both of you," Clyde said in what Rose thought that he must have thought of as a mature, macho voice. He was a young Jack in training she thought to herself with a small smile appearing on her face.

"Clyde, before you hit on my friends any further; I find it fair to point out to you that they're both married. Add to that the fact that they're both much older than you. In fact, Rose is much, much older than you!" Sarah Jane chided Clyde with a small hint of a smile.

"Oi! Enough with the age already! I'm hundreds of years old. Why don't you alert the media?" Rose said with a fake pout that ended with a smile so that the children knew that she was just kidding around.

Clyde looked crestfallen as she said that. His jaw actually dropped open.

"You're hundreds of year old? Then that must mean you're a . . ." Clyde said and stopped before he could finish his sentence. He had just realized who she was; and he was suddenly very, very anxious.

"Time Lady? Yep, that's me. Rose Tyler, the Doctor's wife, at your service," Rose said with a giddy look on her face.

Rani's eyes widened. She hadn't known who Rose was either until now.

"You're the Doctor's wife?!" Rani said in disbelief.

"Yes. Is that hard to believe?" Rose asked confused.

"No. It's just that you're so beautiful. It's hard to believe that the Doctor could . . ." Rani stopped herself as she realized what she was about to say.

Rose burst out laughing as she realized what Rani was getting at.

"You're saying that he's lucky to have me," Rose translated in a nicer way than Rani was about to put it.

Rani looked embarrassed and didn't say anything.

"It's okay. The Doctor tells me that every day. How lucky he feels to have me in his life. I think that I'm the lucky one though. It's not like he's that bad looking anyway. All of his selves have been very handsome," Rose said as she patted Rani and Clyde on their shoulders to let them know that she wasn't mad at either of them.

Both children instantly liked Rose and felt at ease around her now. She had just disarmed all of their fears about her. This woman acted like an ordinary person and nothing at all like the Doctor or any other alien that they had ever met.

"I'm Amy Pond. I travel with the Doctor and maybe in the future, Rose," Amy said as she gave Rose a conspiratorial wink.

Clyde groaned as he said, "Why are all the good ones already taken?"

Rani glared at him and cleared her throat in irritation.

"What?" Clyde said.

"Nothing," Rani said angrily.

"Well, if it was nothing; then why are you glaring at me for?" Clyde asked, looking confused.

Rose and Amy exchanged a look with each other as they both instantly figured out the situation. It was obvious to anyone that Rani liked Clyde, but that he was too oblivious to notice it.

Or at least that was the act that he was putting on anyway. Rose wondered just how much Clyde really did know but was just too afraid to admit to himself. Their relationship reminded her of her and the Doctor back in his ninth and tenth incarnations.

Mr. Smith, Sarah Jane's alien computer, suddenly popped out of his hidden alcove in her attic wall.

"Sarah Jane, I'm receiving alien readings nearby," the Xylok told her.

"It's Rose, Mr. Smith. She's a Time Lady," Sarah Jane said.

"I'm already aware of Lady Arkytior's presence, Sarah Jane. I'm referring to the other aliens within a few feet of your house," Mr. Smith said in a rather irritated voice.

Rose cringed at the use of her Gallifreyan name and title as she said, "Where are they?"

"They are in the front yard getting closer and closer to the front door,"Mr. Smith reported.

Rose summoned Bad Wolf and instantly teleported out of the attic and into the front yard.

"Blimey! I'm glad I didn't make her angry when I hit on her before. She could crushed me like a bug," Clyde said nervously,

"Unlikely. The Lady Arkytior is known universally for her kindness," Mr. Smith said.

"She prefers to be called Rose, Mr. Smith," Sarah Jane told him. She had noticed Rose cringing at the name earlier.

"That is irrelevant. It would not be proper to address her by anything but her proper name and title. She is a universal hero," Mr. Smith said in a haughty tone.

"Mr. Smith, I do believe that you admire her. Is she your hero?" Sarah Jane teased the Xylok.

"I only show her the proper respect accorded her by galactic custom as a former President of the High Council of the Time Lords," Mr. Smith said in an indifferent voice.

"She's like a big high cosmic muckety muck then," Clyde said impressed.

"She served as President at the request of the High Council during a war with vampires. Once that was over, she resigned. She's never been about titles and honors, Clyde," Sarah said.

"She ran like a scared rabbit you mean. She likes to travel not rule. It's just not her," Amy said astutely.

"What's taking her so long? Do you think that she's alright?" Rani said worried.

"There's not much that can take Rose down. Don't worry about her, Rani," Amy said with a tone of certainly in her voice.

Rose went flying through the attic door and hit the ground in front of them with a thud as soon as those words left Amy's mouth.

"Then again," Amy said with a grimace.

In the attic doorway stood several Daleks and at the forefront was the Special Weapons Dalek. He had been the one to just knock Rose on her back.

They all noticed that the Daleks were glowing with the same kind of glow that always covered Rose as Bad Wolf. Amy suddenly had a very bad feeling about this!

"SURRENDER, BAD WOLF; OR YOU WILL BE EXTERMINATED BY THE NEW VORTEX POWERED DALEKS!" one of the Daleks screamed at Rose.

Rose sat up with a groan. It looked like Davros had some new playthings. How fun for her!

**Next: Rose, Amy, and Sarah Jane have to deal with the menace of the new Vortex powered Daleks! **


	37. Chapter 37

CHAPTER 37

I do not own Doctor Who, and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews!**

All of the Daleks opened fire on her at once, and she blocked all of their beams with one hand. She then redirected their beams back at them knocking them all back down to the lower levels of Sarah Jane's house for the moment.

"We have to get out of here now," Rose said as she snapped her fingers and opened the trunk on her TARDIS.

Everyone got inside of Rose's TARDIS, and they dematerialized.

"Why did they come to my house?" Sarah asked.

"I don't know. Maybe they were just following me," Rose suggested.

"What if they weren't? What if they're after me too? What if they go after Luke?" Sarah asked as she got to her real worry.

Rose opened up a communication between Luke at college and Sarah Jane using her TARDIS' monitor.

"Mum, what is it? Is something wrong?" Luke asked as he picked up her call. He could tell instantly that his mother was upset.

"Luke, are you okay? We were just attacked by the Daleks! I'm going to come and pick you up in a minute. They may attack you too," Sarah Jane said with worry.

"There's no need for us to land, Sarah Jane. Don't be afraid, Luke. I'm bringing you to me," Rose said as she teleported Luke to her TARDIS along with Sarah Jane's K-9 who was staying with him.

Luke looked at Rose in astonishment as he said, "Wow! That's incredible. That was near instantaneous travel through the Vortex without a time capsule or a vortex manipulator of some kind. How did you do that?"

"I'm the Bad Wolf," Rose simply said with a mysterious smile.

Luke's eyes went wide as he looked at her. He started to shake a little as he remembered things that he had read about this mysterious entity before him.

"Luke, she's my friend. She's not going to hurt you," Sarah Jane assured her son.

"I never knew that you knew her. I've read so many stories about her. I thought that she was just a legend. There are legends about her all throughout time and space. Mr. Smith has told me all about them. Most of the legends show her as kind and gentle. A few of them, mostly from the Daleks, show her as vengeful and angry. She's the good witch or the fairy godmother in all of the fairy tales. She's just amazing!" Luke said as he stared at Rose like someone in a trance.

"What is it with young boys having a crush on me today?" Rose asked Sarah Jane with a grin.

Clyde looked mortified at her bringing his hitting on her up again while Rani laughed at him.

Amy just smirked at the whole thing. Then she realized that nobody was crushing on her! She got kind of put out by that. They were way too young, and she was married; but still you'd think that they would at least show some interest. What was she, chopped liver?! Amy began to be afraid that she was losing her looks.

"Oh, no! Your highness, I don't have a crush on you. It's more like admiration. I just deeply admire you because you're such a great heroine. You're my hero. Well, you and the Doctor both," Luke admitted.

Rose blushed deeply as she shook her head.

"I'm no hero. The Doctor is a hero not me! I just do what I can to help. The Doctor risks his life all of the time and saves planets and the universe without any special Vortex powers. He just uses his wits and the TARDIS. He's a hero! What's with the 'highness' stuff anyway? Don't call me that. My name is Rose," Rose told him candidly.

Luke smiled. She was just like the stories said. She was full of humility.

"I'm just trying to honor you. You're a Time Lady, and you have a leadership role in one of the Great Houses of Gallifrey. You also were Lady President. You're just so incredible!" Luke said with awe in his voice.

Rose wanted to hide somewhere. Give her the Daleks any day! She hated all of this hero worship and praise! She knew that she didn't deserve any of it.

"You call me Rose, and I call you Luke. How about that?" Rose said to him with a little irritation in her voice.

Luke realized that he was making her uncomfortable so he went along with her wishes.

Sarah Jane smiled. She loved how Rose remained herself no matter how powerful she became or what honors and praise were thrown at her. In Rose's mind, she was still just Rose. It was one of the things that Sarah Jane most admired about her.

"It looks like you just struck out, Luke. Don't worry about it though. I did too. She's too in love with the Doctor. Guys like us have just got no chance with her," Clyde said with a macho air about him.

"Yeah, that's the reason why you struck out. She didn't want you because of the Doctor. Right! It has nothing to do with the fact that you're too young and quite frankly, out of her league!" Rani said as she rolled her eyes.

"It sounds to me like somebody's jealous!" Clyde said as he smiled an evil smile at her.

"I am not!" Rani said a bit too quickly.

"You're jealous of her," Clyde said with a smug grin.

Rani just let it go. She was only jealous of Clyde hitting on someone besides her. She wasn't jealous of Rose at all. She actually liked her. She knew that she was no threat to her when it came to coming between her and Clyde whatsoever.

Rose tried not to smile as she listened to this. She felt sorry for Rani but decided to stay out of things. It wasn't any of her business.

Sarah Jane's daughter, Skye, had been moved to safety at a UNIT base with the Brigadier himself leading the troops protecting her. Rose was sure that she was reasonably safe there.

Rose landed her TARDIS back in ancient China at the court of Kublai Khan. She had tracked the Doctor down to this spot with her TARDIS' sensors. She quickly changed herself into the outfit of a Chinese noblewoman of the time with her powers and went outside to get him.

She walked into the court of the Great Khan, and the guards immediately rushed to block her way.

"Oh most honored Khan, I have no wish to cause you any trouble. I only wish to talk with my husband. I wish to consult him on a most important and grave manner," Rose said in her poshest voice.

The Doctor looked at her with a look of relief on his face. He was sitting across from Kublai Khan at a table with a backgammon game playing out on top of it. From what Rose could tell, the Doctor was losing very badly!

"Let her through. The court recognizes the Lady Arkytior. She may be allowed to speak before me," Kublai Khan said with a smile on his face.

Rose smiled and walked slowly toward him with her head bowed. She had never been here before but obviously she would be sometime in the future. More timey wimeyness at work in her timeline apparently.

"Oh, most great and magnificent Khan, I am so grateful for being admitted into your august presence! I wish a thousand blessings upon you, oh noble lord!" Rose said as she kept her head bowed. She may hate this kind of thing, but she knew how to do it and when to use it to her advantage.

"I thank you for your gracious words, oh beautiful and noble lady of the court! I will let your husband go now because if he were to play any longer he would probably wind up losing his ship once again. You may take him and leave now, oh great and gracious lady!" Kublai Khan said as he bowed to Rose.

"Thank you, my lord!" Rose said as she bowed to him and put her hand on the Doctor's shoulder to get him to go.

She lightly pulled him along at first; and then when she got back into her own TARDIS, she dragged him inside forcefully.

She contacted the Doctor's TARDIS, and Idris answered the monitor.

"It's my Wolf! How are you? He has recreated Experiment Zero. He has a new girl to take the old one's place," Idris said.

"I'm doing fine. I see you're anticipating our questions again before we even ask them," Rose said with a smile.

"So there is a new Experiment Zero," the Doctor said thoughtfully.

Rose had thought so. Davros had recreated those terrible experiments that he had been doing before despite her having tried to stop him.

"Oh, there's my thief. I'm so glad that you've rescued him, Wolf. I thought for sure that I would be lost to Kublai Khan in a backgammon game . . . again! I suppose you want me to link myself to your TARDIS then and follow you?" Idris asked.

"Yes, please. Sorry to have to bother you," Rose said.

"No bother. I'm so glad to not be taking up space in the Khan's Palace again. Oh, there's orange-haired girl and the reporter lady. Hello, reporter lady!" Idris said with a big grin.

"Hello!" Sarah Jane said. She had no idea who Idris, was but she went along with it thinking that she must be another companion.

"I'll link myself to you and follow you through the Vortex. Hello, Wolf! Oh, I still get those confused! Good bye!" Idris said as she switched off communications.

The Doctor's TARDIS followed Rose's into the Vortex. She planned to stay there for at least a few minutes until she had a chance to talk to the Doctor about the latest developments with the Daleks.

"Who was that in the TARDIS?" Sarah Jane asked.

"Oh, that was the TARDIS. It's a long story. I'll tell you about it sometime," the Doctor said with a wide grin.

Sarah Jane just looked at him in astonishment. She had just talked to the TARDIS?! She would have to try and get a chance to see her again later. She couldn't pass up on an opportunity like that!

"I can't believe you! You almost lost the TARDIS in a game again," Rose chided the Doctor.

She changed her clothing back to her 50's look once more as she continued to tell him off.

"You're always betting her all of the time. You lost her before to Genghis Khan, Napoleon, and to Alexander the Great in games. You'd think that you would learn to stop playing them sometime!" Rose said in annoyance.

"I'll have you know that I'm very good at games. I beat Fenric in a game and saved the world. I also beat the Celestial Toymaker at his own game too," the Doctor defended himself.

"So did I. It was very tough beating him too I must admit. So, I'll give you a lot of credit for that. He really hated to lose. I wonder how he's doing on that island! I really need to check up on him one of these days," Rose said with a grin.

"Rose, what is Experiment Zero?" Sarah Jane asked her.

"It was a horrible attempt to create a new Bad Wolf for the Daleks by Davros. I thought that I had put a stop to it, but I was wrong. He's found a way to give the power to the Daleks now using another poor girl to do it. I'll have to find out how he's doing this and stop him somehow. I can't allow the Daleks to use the power of the Vortex. They would be unstoppable!" Rose explained with a shiver running down her back.

She would put an end to Experiment Zero for good this time if she had to burn the details out of Davros' mind! There would be no more innocent people suffering because of her!

**Next: Rose confront Davros and finds out the details behind the new Experiment Zero.**


	38. Chapter 38

CHAPTER 38

I do not own Doctor Who, and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews!**

Davros looked at his newest Experiment Zero with an expression of glee on his face. It had taken a very long time, but he had finally come up with another woman who could survive being exposed to the Vortex. He had recreated the original experiment from memory even though Rose had wiped away all of his notes with the Bad Wolf Virus. This time instead of pitting her directly against Rose Tyler, he had decided to do something clever.

He had this woman hooked into a machine that beamed her power directly into certain Daleks that had had their shells rebuilt to safely receive and manipulate her Vortex energy. This newest plan had taken months of preparation before it could be implemented, but it would soon be worth it. His new Vortex Daleks would kill the Bad Wolf forever, and then the Daleks would fear no one ever again. With their new abilities, they would quickly sweep across the universe and remake it in their image!

Rose Tyler could have remade the universe too if she had ever chosen to. Davros didn't understand how anyone could have such power and fail to use it. He never would understand what motivated the mysterious Time Lady who played at being a human being. She was an enigma to him. Why would you want to be a lesser species when you could be a god? In a way, she was his complete opposite. Perhaps that was what fascinated him about her.

Now he looked in triumph at what he hoped would be the instrument of her destruction. He had her safely hidden far away from Skaro. No one could possibly find her. You would have to be a Dalek in order to know where she was at because her secret location was hidden on the impenetrable Dalek net. No one, not even the Doctor, had ever been able to break into it! Davros would soon find out that he was wrong about that though.

A lone Dalek came through the door of this hidden chamber, and the Daleks standing guard there with him immediately confronted it.

"YOU ARE HERE IN ERROR. THIS AREA IS OFF LIMITS! YOU WILL EXPLAIN YOUR ACTIONS IMMEDIATELY, OR YOU WILL BE EXTERMINATED!" one of Davros' guards shouted at the newcomer.

"I WAS TOLD TO COME AND HELP GUARD THE HUMAN. THIS IS MY LATEST ASSIGNMENT," The new Dalek said.

"CHECK ALL WORK ORDERS AND CONFIRM!" the lead Dalek guard told a subordinate.

The subordinate checked a computer and said, "IT IS TRUE! THE ORDERS HAVE JUST COME IN FROM DALEK HIGH COMMAND!"

"THEN ASSUME YOUR STATION AND COMMENCE YOUR DUTIES!" the lead guard barked out at the newest arrival.

"I OBEY!" the new Dalek said.

The Dalek assumed a position among the other guards. Oswin Oswald had just made her way unnoticed into the secret Dalek base! She was now one step closer to helping Rose bring this new plot by Davros down!

She would now slowly infiltrate the Dalek net and erase all knowledge of Experiment Zero not only from there but from the Daleks themselves. It would be like it never existed. It would take a little time to do it stealthily though. She would get that time soon when the next step in Rose's plan commenced.

Minutes after Oswin's arrival, Rose teleported into the entrance of the Dalek base and began to take on a horde of Daleks who instantly came to stop her. The Vortex Daleks soon showed up to help their weaker cousins.

Rose deflected or redirected several Dalek attacks at once as all of them opened fire on her simultaneously. Luckily for Rose, she had mastered the use of this energy a long time ago. The Daleks attacking her were like a bunch of college football players taking on a professional athlete. There was no comparison between them.

The only Dalek that gave her any real problems was that pesky Special Weapons Dalek. He just had a little more power to his punch! Being hit by him was like being hit by a ton of bricks every time, and it always sent her flying across the room! She would pick herself up every time none the worse for wear but flustered. She hated that Dalek!

While Rose was keeping the main Dalek forces distracted and Oswin was erasing all knowledge about Experiment Zero from the Dalek Net, the Doctor was carrying out his part of the plan as he materialized his TARDIS somewhere deep inside the base. He slowly made his way to the hidden chamber where Experiment Zero was located and prepared to do battle against the Dalek guards there.

Luckily for him, he wasn't alone. Sarah Jane was with him. It was just like old times!

"Luke, I'm going to need you to stand by and carry out your part of the plan later. Wait on standby for my signal," the Doctor instructed Luke over a specially rigged up communicator that he had brought with him.

Even Luke and the other children had their part to play in this plan. It was time for them to begin.

"Now, Luke!" the Doctor ordered.

Rose's TARDIS materialized inside of the hidden chamber and began firing on the Daleks inside with its arsenal of weapons.

"Are you sure that he's going to be alright? He's a genius, but he doesn't understand Time Lord technology. At least not yet," Sarah Jane asked worried.

"He'll be fine. Rose's TARDIS is a War TARDIS equipped with all kinds of nasty weaponry left over from the Time War. Rose has it set on automatic attack. All Luke had to do is hit one button to start the attack. When he wants to stop, he just hits the same button again. It's a cool plan. It's so cool, it's a wonder I didn't think of it! I'll admit that Rose is smarter than me though. She's fantastic! That's what a former version of me might say anyway; and for once, I agree with Old Shouty!" the Doctor said with a wide grin on his face.

Sarah Jane shook her head at him. He was still the same as he had always been at his core even though he had changed in so many other ways. This felt like old times to her too.

When he heard Rose's TARDIS stop firing, the Doctor turned to Sarah Jane and said, "That's our cue. Let's go, Sarah Jane! Geronimo!"

They both charged in with their sonics pulled out as they prepared to take on any stragglers from the War TARDIS' attack.

**Next: The Doctor and Sarah attempt to disconnect the new Experiment Zero from the Vortex Daleks while Rose keeps them distracted. Davros has a surprise waiting for them though. Nothing's ever easy! **


	39. Chapter 39

CHAPTER 39

I do not own Doctor Who, and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews!**

There were still a few Daleks in addition to Davros who had survived the War TARDIS' attack. As a consequence of this, Sarah Jane was now getting full use out of the new settings to her Sonic Lipstick that the Doctor had added to help her disable the Daleks. She was using every one of them now as she fought side by side with him.

I could have used these a long time ago! Sarah Jane thought to herself as she used her Sonic to send a Dalek racing backwards out of control at full speed until it crashed into another Dalek, and they both exploded.

She used another setting to send a Dalek spinning around like a top as it screamed at her in frustration. It too collided into another Dalek and made both Daleks go up in flames!

Sarah Jane and the Doctor smiled at each other with wide grins on their faces. It really was like the old days only better!

Oswin couldn't help but smile as she watched them together. She didn't really know Sarah Jane that well but even she knew that she was witnessing something special. She had switched her perception filter back on so that she wouldn't accidentally be attacked and had joined in on the fight for a short time. She had ultimately opted out though when she decided that the two of them were handling things just fine on their own!

Soon all of the Daleks in the room had been taken care of, and Davros stood alone against the three of them.

The Dalek Creator looked at Oswin with hatred and spat out, "Traitor!"

"Traitor would imply that I was once one of you when I never was! I never asked to be made into a Dalek, and I'm still not one. I will never be a Dalek!" Oswin said back to him defiantly.

"No, you won't. You don't have what it takes. You're too soft and weak. You have been corrupted by emotion. The only emotion that a Dalek needs is hate!" Davros shouted at her in disgust.

"Oh, I've got hate all right. I've got plenty of hate inside. The difference between me and a Dalek is that I don't direct it at those that don't deserve it. I'd prefer to direct it at people like you!" Oswin shouted back at Davros.

Davros smiled at her and said, "Perhaps I misjudged you. You might perhaps make a good Dalek one day after all. That is if you survive my little surprise!"

He laughed as a huge Dalek that was three times the size of a regular Dalek emerged through a secret door from behind him. This Dalek had a row of massive guns on the front of its casing that made it look like a moving armory.

"Meet the War Dalek. It's the first of its kind. It will be the prototype of a new breed of Dalek that I shall use to wipe the Time Lords from the universe. It will be the general in my new Vortex army!" Davros said with a massive grin on his face.

"So I take it that it is a Vortex Dalek as well then," the Doctor said unhappily.

"Exactly," Davros said with a smirk.

"That's what I was afraid that you would say," the Doctor said with a grimace.

The Doctor looked toward Sarah Jane and Oswin and said, "Run!"

The three of them quickly ran from the room as the War Dalek began to fire massive blasts of Vortex energy at their retreating forms that instantly disintegrated everything behind them as they ran!

They could hear Davros laughing hysterically behind them as they fled. Oswin swore to herself that she was going to wipe that smirk off of his face.

As the three of them fled the scene, Rose teleported behind Davros and shut the power to his chair off with a gesture. Davros' eyes widened in surprise as he immediately guessed what had happened. He couldn't turn in order to verify his suspicions so he said, "Hello, Miss Tyler."

"Hello, Davros. You'll be glad to know that your Vortex Daleks are good but not good enough! They're now pieces of dust floating around the atmosphere. Now you're going to let this woman go. and then you and I going to have a little talk about this project of yours. It ends now, Davros!" Rose shouted as her original merry tone quickly turned into one of absolute anger.

"You still have the War Dalek to deal with, Miss Tyler. Even now it's on its way here to protect me. It was programmed to come back to me if my chair were ever shut off. You see I anticipated your every move!" Davros said with a sneer.

"Did you? Well did you anticipate this?" Rose said as she melted the machine holding the new Experiment Zero into sludge while leaving the woman inside unharmed.

The woman looked at her with grateful eyes and struggled to say something, but Davros had her too drugged up to speak. Rose looked at her in pity and put her to sleep with a wave of her hand. The sleep that Rose had just put her in would slowly disconnect her from the Vortex and transform her back into a regular human being again. When she woke up, her system would also be purged of Davros' chemical influence as well; and she would be her normal self again.

"I did actually. You see that woman was one of two Experiment Zeroes. She was only a decoy for the real one. The real one is inside the War Dalek! She is under my complete control, and I order her to destroy you!" Davros said with a burst of laughter.

The War Dalek had returned to the room and opened fire on Rose with all of its weapons at once! Rose quickly deflected all of its firepower back on it, but it remained unaffected as the powerful blasts bounced harmlessly off of its force field.

She then started disintegrating the War Dalek's outer casing, but the woman inside quickly rebuilt it with her own power. Everything that Rose did, the War Dalek's operator quickly undid. It was like she was fighting a mirror image of herself.

It was then that a horrible thought entered her mind, and she realized who this must be that she was fighting.

"You're the Pythia, aren't you?" Rose asked the War Dalek, but the operator of the Dalek casing said nothing.

"You're very close but wrong. The woman inside there is not the Pythia. She's a clone grown from her cells. I recovered some of her Time Lord DNA after I destroyed her. You see my motives for killing her were not entirely magnanimous after all. I wanted her genetic structure so that I could clone her. Soon I will have an army of War Daleks with a mindless clone of her inside of each one of them!" Davros said with a twisted grin on his face.

The entire room started to be twisted and torn apart as the two of them continued to do battle with each other. If this continued, the entire area for miles around would soon be ripped apart along with everyone inside of it. Rose had to think of a way to stop all of this now before it was too late.

**Next: The final resolution to the Vortex Dalek storyline as Rose goes all out to make sure that Experiment Zero comes to a permanent end! Will she succeed? **


	40. Chapter 40

CHAPTER 40

I do not own Doctor Who, and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews!**

Inside Rose's TARDIS, Luke, Clyde, and Rani were getting more than they bargained for as they were being thrown all around the Console Room. The forces being unleashed between Rose and the War Dalek were affecting them even through the protection of the TARDIS' force field.

Luckily Amy had stayed with them and was able to calm them down somewhat. She had let Luke activate the TARDIS' weapons because she was afraid if she touched the controls, she might wind up blowing them up. The Doctor had tried to persuade her that it was just a simple button push, but she had said that Luke should do it because he was the genius not her.

Now though she took control of the situation as best she could. She could tell that the kids were frightened out of their wits. They had been in a lot of bad fixes with Sarah Jane of course, but this was a whole different barrel of fish.

"Is it always like this traveling with the Doctor and Rose?" Rani asked Amy with a look of fear on her face.

Amy smiled at her in an attempt to calm her down as she said in a happy, carefree voice, "No. This is a slow day. Usually it's much worse! This is just an ordinary day for us. Or as Rose calls it: Monday!"

"That doesn't make me feel better somehow," Clyde said with a laugh.

Amy could tell he was scared too but trying not to show it around the others. It was up to her to make them more relaxed while she tried to figure a way out of this mess. No problem, right?

"Hey, it's going to be okay! Rose and the Doctor always come through and save the day. There's no need to worry. I promise," Amy said in a comforting tone.

"You're scared too, aren't you?" Luke asked her.

She looked at him with a grin. This boy was too smart to fall for her con job.

"You are a smart one, aren't you? Yeah, I am. I have faith that they're save us though. They always do!" Amy said with confidence.

Of course it would help if I took a little action of my own too! Amy thought as she walked toward the controls. She didn't have the complete and absolute faith in the Doctor that she had once had after all. He had broken her of that back at that horrible hotel.

She studied the controls for a moment, and then a glazed look came over her eyes as she stood there like in a trance.

"Amy? Are you okay?" Rani asked.

Rani was afraid that the fear of their situation had overwhelmed her. Amy snapped out of her trance-like state at Rani's words and looked at her in confusion for a minute. Then she started smiling at her like nothing had happened and began to manipulate the controls like she had been using them all of her life!

The children looked at each other with puzzled looks on their faces. First she was afraid to touch the controls, and now she was acting like an expert with them! What was going on here?

"Everything's fine, Rani. In fact, it's better than fine. We're getting out of here!" Amy said with a weird grin as she dematerialized Rose's TARDIS and took them to safety.

Rani was definitely going to ask Sarah Jane about this later. She was worried about Amy.

Rose heard her TARDIS leaving and was surprised for a moment. She had been trying her best to keep the effects of the battle from reaching the children and Amy because she knew that they didn't know how to operate the controls. Now somehow they had done it.

Amy's memories were starting to awaken more and more Rose realized. She was becoming more like her old self now ever since she had found out that she used to be a Time Lady. Rose wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not. Having flashes of memory like this without opening the fob watch might be damaging to her. She would have to make sure that she was okay later.

A couple of feet away, the Doctor, Sarah Jane, and Oswin were just reaching the Doctor's TARDIS, and they too dematerialized and left the area. Oswin continued to erase the Daleks' knowledge of Experiment Zero at a much faster rate now. She was close to making them all forget about it.

There was also something else that she was close to doing. She was almost in control of the War Dalek! It had gone much easier than she thought since the clone of the Pythia was almost mindless and offered little resistance to her attack.

Rose looked at the War Dalek in complete astonishment moments later as it stopped firing at her and swiveled its guns toward Davros instead.

"What?! What are you doing? You will obey me. I am your master!" Davros said as he eyed the War Dalek's weapons. He could still not move because Rose had turned off his chair.

"I TOLD YOU THAT I WAS NEVER ONE OF YOU!" the War Dalek's voice said.

"You!" Davros screamed in fury as he knew that Oswin was now in control of his prized creation.

Rose smiled as she too understood at last what was going on. Good job, Oswin! She thought to herself.

At the same time, the entire Dalek net was erased of all knowledge of the War Dalek, the Vortex Daleks, and Experiment Zero. Oswin then ordered the Dalek computers to destroy all of the Pythia's Time Lord DNA and any other evidence of the existence of Experiment Zero or the Vortex Daleks.

That cleaned everything up except for two things: the War Dalek and Davros. Rose destroyed the War Dalek's outer casing completely as she disintegrated it. All that was left was the Pythia clone when she was finished. Rose couldn't bring herself to kill the clone. She stood there uncertain of what to do about her.

Davros soon solved that problem for her. He had finally managed to get his chair working again, and he touched a control on it that caused the Pythia clone to die from massive cellular disruption as the clone disintegrated into dust.

"You will not get a chance to use my own creation against me! I will make another one, and then I remove her connection to the Dalek Net so that it will no longer be capable to take control of her that way," Davros said with an evil grin as he was already thinking up ways to improve his creation.

"You're never going to make another one, Davros. That was it. All information about them has been erased from the Dalek Net, and every trace of them has been destroyed. All that's left to take care of now is you," Rose said as she advanced on Davros.

Davros' eyes bulged out in fear as he said, "You wouldn't kill me. It's against your moral code. You're much too noble!"

Rose just smiled as she put her hands on the sides of Davros' head, and her eyes glowed gold with power. She swiftly erased every bit of information about Experiment Zero and the Vortex Daleks from Davros' mind. She hated to do this, but she knew that it was the only way to ensure that he never tried something like this again. She then placed a mental block in his mind to prevent him from even thinking about trying to create his own Bad Wolf ever again. If he ever started to think about it, his mind would automatically shift to something else and block the thought out.

It was done. All Rose had to do now was get everyone home. She sent the other Experiment Zero home where she would be as good as new when she woke up. She would also have no memory of what had happened to her. Rose wanted no evidence of Experiment Zero left behind for anyone to find.

Everyone went back to Sarah Jane's house, and Rose quickly fixed all of the damage that the Daleks had done to her home. Then they resumed the friendly trip that they had been having before the Daleks had so rudely interrupted them.

Rani told Sarah Jane about Amy's strange behavior, and Sarah Jane then came to the Doctor about it. Rose then had to explain to Sarah Jane about Amy's memory flashes and the nature of them. Sarah Jane looked shocked at first but quickly adjusted. She never would have guessed that the Scottish girl used to be a Time Lady.

"She seems so normal," Sarah Jane said.

"You're inferring that Time Lords aren't normal then?" Rose joked with a grin.

"I believe she is saying that, Rose. It's very insulting too," the Doctor said with a pretend frown on his face.

Idris suddenly opened the TARDIS door and said, "Come in here, Reporter Lady. I can tell you plenty of stories about my thief that will show you that I'm the sane one between the two of us."

"Oh, I'm looking forward to this! I've been waiting to talk to you since I found out who you are! I want to know all about the Doctor's past and all of his darkest secrets! The reporter in me has to know!" Sarah Jane said with an evil grin.

"You could have always asked me, Sarah Jane. I'll tell you everything that you want to know, and I mean everything!" Rose said with a wicked grin of her own.

"Come on, my Wolf. We should both talk to her," Idris said with a wide tooth filled grin.

"This is going to be the greatest interview of my life!" Sarah Jane said with an ecstatic look on her face.

The three of them went inside the TARDIS while the Doctor just held his head in his hands in silent agony. Why did they always talk about him whenever they got together?

Amy walked over to him and put a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

"It's okay. I'm still on your side, Doctor. I won't engage in any thing petty like laughing at you behind your back about every little mistake that you've ever made in your life. I'm above that kind of thing," Amy said with a grin.

Then she paused for a moment as she looked toward the TARDIS with temptation in her eyes.

"No, I'm not! I've got to hear about all of the mistakes you've ever made. I'll be able to use it as leverage against you later," Amy said as she raced off to the TARDIS with a mad grin on her face.

"Leverage for what?" the Doctor said with an unhappy look on his face.

"The leverage I'll need in order to get myself a better deal from you in exchange for my continuing to travel with you full-time instead of with Rose. I'll have plenty of things I can threaten to tell Rory or River if I don't get what I want!" Amy said with a mischievous smile.

The Doctor looked at her with worry as she ran inside the TARDIS. He wasn't worried about what she would tell the others. He was worried about her mental health. He would have to put up better shields around her memories of the past now that they had started flooding out. If he didn't, she might become like Donna when she became half Time Lord. He had to make sure that that never happened to Amy. He didn't want to ever lose her!

"So tell us again for Amy's benefit about how the Doctor failed his driving test for the TARDIS," Sarah Jane said to Rose after Amy joined them.

"You're going to love this, Amy. It's such a great story. Only the Doctor could manage to destroy not only his test TARDIS but also the President's TARDIS at the same time while just taking a test! I'll tell you all about it. That was just what he did the first time that he failed the test. You're really going to get a kick out of what happened the other times," Rose said as she started to giggle.

Rose was going to enjoy this. This one always cracked her up every time that she told it.

**Next: This story crosses over with Lily and Robin and Jenny Tyler, Time's Angel for one big storyline that will also involve the Doctor's sister, Emmy. This storyline will settle once and for all what will happen to Amy. **


	41. Chapter 41

CHAPTER 41

I do not own Doctor Who, and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews!**

**Shadow of the Daleks Part 3**

**This is the end of the storyline that began in Jenny Tyler, Time's Angel Chapter 12 and continued through Lily and Robin Chapter 23. **

Lily, Jenny, and Emmy got out of Jenny's TARDIS as they returned to Earth. They found the Daleks now openly making announcements on all of Earth's television and radio channels as they called for Rose to bring the location of the second Nightmare Child to them.

"OUR FLEET HAS SURROUNDED EVERY ONE OF YOUR MAJOR CITIES. WE WILL ATTACK AND EXTERMINATE EVERYONE ON THIS PLANET IF THE BAD WOLF DOES NOT GIVE US THE LOCATION OF THE NIGHTMARE CHILD. WE WILL ALSO KILL THE DOCTOR AND THE HUMAN. THE BAD WOLF HAS 1,000 RELS TO GIVE US HER DECISION," a Dalek voice said on every television channel and radio station on the planet.

"1,000 rels?" Patrick Baker asked from inside of the TARDIS. He was one of the two brothers that Jenny had saved from the Daleks earlier today. He had already figured out how to make her TARDIS' monitor show television channels apparently.

"Roughly equivalent to twenty minutes on Earth," Jenny said to him.

"Twenty minutes left to live. That's good to know. Well at least I got to meet you through all of this, Jenny. That's almost worth dying for," Patrick said honestly.

Jenny blushed bright red and said, "Thank you. It's been nice knowing you too."

"Hey! No more talk like that! This isn't the end. I'm going to take care of everything," Rose's voice said as she came unsteadily through the doors of Jenny's TARDIS.

The Baker brothers had to grab hold of her arms to stop her from falling over onto her face.

"Yeah, you're really able to take on a whole Dalek fleet, Rose! You can't even walk yet! Sit down until you feel better!" Lily commanded her daughter.

"No. I've got to save the Earth. There's no one else. It's got to be me," Rose said in a weak voice.

"Can you even transform into the Bad Wolf, mum?" Jenny asked Rose.

Rose tried, but she couldn't. Her eyes glowed for half a second, and then faded. For the moment, she was just an ordinary Time Lady.

"I thought so. Listen to Gran. Sit down!" Jenny said to her mother.

Rose was stubborn though, and she continued to try to walk forward. She fell forward, and Emmy had to quickly run and catch her before she hurt herself.

"Sit! Now, Arkytior!" Emmy said in an angry voice.

Rose finally relented and sat down. She started getting upset immediately and started to shake all over.

"It'll be alright, Rose. We'll come up with something. I'm used to fighting back against impossible odds. So is your husband for that matter. This isn't the end!" Lily told her confidently.

Lily was right as it turned out. Only it wasn't her or the Doctor that saved the day. It was someone else entirely.

The Doctor's TARDIS suddenly appeared in the middle of the Dalek fleet over London.

"Attention, all Daleks! You have my husband and my best friend with you. You will give them over to me and go home, or I'll destroy each and every last one of you! You have 500 rels to decide," Amy Pond said on every channel and station that the Daleks had previously been on.

"About 10 minutes," Jenny shouted to Patrick.

Patrick nodded as he said, "Yeah, I kind of figured that out already from what I already knew about rels. Thanks anyway though. You're sweet!"

Jenny just nodded and blushed again.

Rose smiled at this exchange in wonderment. What had she missed while she had been unconscious?

"I'll let you know what I know about it later," Lily whispered in Rose's ear.

"What does Amy think she's doing?! She's going to get us all killed!" Emmy said in irritation.

"Watch!" Rose said with a strange smile on her face. She seemed to know something that the others didn't.

"ATTACK THE TARDIS! EXTERMINATE THE HUMAN FEMALE!" the Dalek Supreme ordered from the Dalek command ship.

The Dalek ships surrounding the TARDIS all fired on it in unison, and suddenly it dived through their fire as it twisted and turned for all it was worth. The ships continued to open fire as the TARDIS ducked and weaved through them like a fighter plane.

It soon became clear to all of the people on the ground what Amy was doing as the Dalek ships began to explode from each other's fire. One by one they were destroyed as Amy flew the TARDIS around their incoming fire and arranged for them to shoot each other as she waited to move at the very last possible second so that one Dalek ship would hit another one behind her. She had to carefully arrange it so that one was always behind her at all times and yet somehow keep herself from being hit by them and the other ones around her at the same time.

Sometimes she also had to dematerialize the TARDIS for a few seconds in order to accomplish this. She would have to wait and dematerialize it at the best possible moment so that several Dalek ships would be destroyed at once.

After just a matter of minutes, she had reduced their fleet down to nothing but one subordinate ship and the Command ship. The subordinate ship continued to fire on Amy until she suddenly dematerialized the TARDIS. She didn't return this time.

"SEEK, LOCATE, AND EXTERMINATE THE HUMAN!" the Command ship ordered the other ship.

"WE CANNOT FIND THE HUMAN. WE SHALL CONTINUE TO SEARCH," the Dalek in charge on the subordinate ship responded.

Minutes passed, and then the subordinate ship slowly started heading straight toward the Command ship at full speed!

"Attention, Dalek Command Ship! I'm coming for them. Prepare to welcome me aboard!" Amy warned the Daleks on the Command Ship through their own ship's communications system.

They could see the command deck of their ship in flames in the background as Amy stood among a heap of destroyed Daleks. A shiver passed through the Dalek Supreme. What kind of human was this?

Moments later, the Dalek subordinate ship crashed into the Command ship at just the right spot to shut down all power to everything on board. Life support was kept on by emergency power Amy remembered.

The Doctor's TARDIS materialized inside the Command Ship, and Amy was immediately surrounded on all sides by Daleks. She pulled out one of the Doctor's sonic screwdrivers that she had quickly redesigned for her own use.

As the Daleks attacked, she became a flurry of motion as she somersaulted and flipped through the air like a trained gymnast. She ducked and weaved her body through their fire just as she had to the ships with the TARDIS. She took every possible moment she could to use the sonic screwdriver to disable or destroy them while she evaded their attacks.

Soon every last one of them lay on fire on the deck of the ship. She proceeded throughout the entire Command ship until she found the Dalek Supreme.

"You're the last Dalek alive on board this ship. If you want to stay that way, call off the attack on Earth now!" Amy threatened him.

"THIS IS THE DALEK SUPREME. I ORDER ALL SHIPS TO DEPART EARTH IMMEDIATELY," the Dalek Supreme ordered.

"Very good! Now release the Doctor and Rory! After we all safely leave this ship, you can go in peace," Amy promised.

"I OBEY!" the Dalek Supreme said.

The Doctor and Rory were released from their containment cells, and they met up outside to see that everything around them was in flames!

"What is going on?" Rory asked the Doctor.

"I believe I know. If what I believe is true, then things may be hard on you later. I'm sorry about that," The Doctor told him with a sad look on his face.

"What are you talking about?" Rory asked in confusion.

The two of them continued forward until they found the TARDIS. Just as they were about to get inside of it, they were fired on by a Dalek gun stalk.

They ran from the attack and hid behind some already destroyed Daleks as they saw their attacker emerge from amid the flaming debris.

"YOU WILL BE EXTERMINATED! FIRST YOU AND THEN THE HUMAN FEMALE! THEN I WILL RECALL THE FLEET AND EXTERMINATE EVERY HUMAN ON THIS PLANET!" the Dalek Supreme shouted at them.

The whine of the sonic screwdriver sounded out through the air and became stronger and stronger as the Dalek Supreme began to shake and shiver. Suddenly his outer shell exploded as his self-destruct sequence finally activated and incinerated him!

The Doctor and Rory turned to see Amy come slowly walking through the flames behind the Dalek Supreme with her sonic screwdriver still in her hand. Her face was an emotionless mask as she surveyed what she had done.

Rory knew what must have happened immediately.

"Amy?" Rory asked hesitantly. He was terrified that he had lost her forever.

Amy's face changed into a smile. She ran forward and hugged her husband in a tight embrace!

"You don't get rid of me that easily, Mr. Pond!" Amy said with a grin.

"I thought that you opened the watch. How else could you do all of this?" Rory said.

"I did open it. I'm not sure who I am right now, Rory. What I am sure of is that whoever I am, I love you! I'm not going to become that sad woman that I used to be anymore because now I have you," Amy said as she kissed him passionately.

The Doctor smiled as he sighed in relief. It seemed that whoever she would turn out to be Amy was happy. He was glad. He never wanted her to be that miserable, depressed person that she had turned into back on Gallifrey after her husband had died ever again.

Back on Earth, Rose smiled. She saw what was happening through her link with the Doctor. She was glad that Amy was okay. She was determined to help her no matter who she was now.

There was one thing that she knew for sure. Neither of them was going to get her to travel with them now. She was going to want her own TARDIS.

The Doctor landed the TARDIS back on Earth after locating Rose and setting the Dalek Command Ship to fly into the sun.

After hearing that Amy had saved the day all by herself, Emmy couldn't resist making a crack to the Doctor.

"So you just stood around and did nothing while someone else saved the day, huh? I guess that made you feel pretty useless. Maybe it's time you retired and let someone else save the day for a change. You could give me the TARDIS. I could go out there and save the universe for you while you prop your feet up on the sofa!" Emmy said with a wicked gleam in her eyes.

"Yes, old man. You should just sit by a nice hot fire so that you can warm your cold old bones while you enjoy your twilight years!" Lily joined in.

"That's right! You just need to rest and relax and leave saving the universe to the younger folks," Emmy said with a grin.

"You could sit around the living room in a proper house and eat beans on toast while you watch the telly," Rose taunted him as she now joined in too. She was throwing some of his first words to her as Rose back at him.

The Doctor looked apoplectic at the thought of himself retiring and living a normal life. He had the panicked look in his eyes of a caged beast.

"Don't worry about it, Doctor. It's never going to happen! I'd hate that life as much as you would!" Rose assured him.

The Doctor sighed in relief. Then he kissed her with a grateful smile on his face.

"I knew there was a reason why I loved you," the Doctor told her with a wide smile.

The two of them noticed Jenny staring at Jon Baker while he stared at her. There was definitely some undeniable attraction between them. Even the Doctor realized what was going on.

"When did this happen?" The Doctor asked Rose.

"I don't know. While I was unconscious, I think," Rose said with a sweet smile as she quickly gave him a peck on the lips.

"I hate this. She's starting to deal with boys now. I'll just have to show that boy a little bit of the Oncoming Storm later on," the Doctor said as he eyed Jon Baker like a lion looking at an antelope.

"Don't you dare!" Rose warned him.

"I have to put the fear of the Time Lords in him, Rose. I don't want him to take advantage of my little girl," the Doctor argued.

"I think Jenny can take care of herself. She is a soldier after all. She's more than capable of breaking a few things here or there if she has to," Rose pointed out with a wicked grin.

The Doctor smiled at that thought, but he still eyed the boy with Jenny warily. He would be watching him he vowed to himself. If he tried anything, he would soon find himself floating through space!

Rose looked at Jenny as she interacted with the two brothers and wondered idly if the Doctor was targeting the wrong boy.

Rose eventually had regained enough power to fix all of the damage that the Daleks had done and things soon returned to as normal as things possibly could after such a horrible occurrence.

As everyone prepared to leave and go on about their normal lives, Lily still had a question left to ask Rose.

"How did you ever find out where the second Nightmare Child was?" Lily asked.

"I learned it from searching the Dalek Emperor's mind just before I destroyed him the first time that I called myself the Bad Wolf. I learned all of his secrets," Rose said.

"Where is it then?" Lily asked curiously.

"It's in a safe place, a place where the Daleks will never find it no matter how hard they look. Hopefully they'll think twice about trying to get the location of it from me again now that they know they'll have Amy and me to deal with," Rose said.

"Hey! What about me?" the Doctor interjected.

"Yes, you too! They'll be afraid of you and your walking stick too, old man!" Lily taunted him.

"They'll cower in terror from the power of your comfy slippers as you throw them at them from your chair by the fire!" Emmy joined in once again.

Lily and Emmy smiled at each other as they realized what a great team they made against the Doctor. The Doctor groaned as he realized that the taunts and insults in his life were about to get a lot worse now!

Rose said good bye to Jenny and Lily as they left with the Baker brothers. Rose was sure that this wasn't the last that she would see of the two boys. She knew the look of people who wanted to see the universe when she saw it.

She said goodbye to the Doctor, Amy, and Rory as well as they left in the TARDIS. She promised to join them again on a new trip later. She was confident that Amy was going to be alright as long as she had Rory there to help her. She didn't think that she would ever be as miserable as she was as Cliodna back on Gallifrey ever again.

Rose called her TARDIS to her with her Stattenheim Remote Control, and she went to visit the location of the Nightmare Child. It was kept asleep and imprisoned in a white dwarf star alloyed prison hidden deep in the Vortex. Only she knew where it was, and it would stay that way. She had found it where the Dalek Emperor had kept it and imprisoned it there in the Vortex as one of the first things that she did when she became the White Guardian. She knew the danger that it would present to everyone if it were ever freed. She hoped that it never was.

**The End of Shadow of the Daleks**

**You can follow Amy's continuing story in the newest chapters of War of the Guardians.**

**Next time in this title: A day in the life of Rose Tyler. Shareen follows Rose around everywhere that she goes for twenty four hours and experiences what an average day for her is like. What will she discover about just how much Rose has and hasn't changed since she last knew her years before?**


	42. Chapter 42

CHAPTER 42

I do not own Doctor Who or Superman, and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews!**

Shareen Costello woke up in her room onboard Rose's TARDIS and sat there for a while as she wondered, not for the first time, whether she would ever make enough money to have a real home of her own ever again. Rose had said that she was glad to have her stay with her as long as she wanted. She knew that Rose meant it, but she still wanted to have a place of her own. She kept trying to find a better paying job, but those were hard to come by these days it seemed.

She felt so low about herself for imposing on her friend that it made her decide to do something to make it up to her. She decided to be Rose's official helper. She didn't have to work today so she decided to go with her and spend the day with her so that she could see exactly what it was she did all day. It would give her some idea of just how she could help Rose the best. She desperately wanted to be useful to her in some way. Part of her knew that she also wanted to see just how much Rose had changed since she had been her friend back at the Powell Estate.

When she told Rose her idea, Rose smiled and said, "You don't have to do anything to pay me back, Shareen. You're my friend. I'm helping you because you need it. I'd do the same for any of my friends. I don't expect anything in return."

"I still want to do something. Please! Let me go with you so that I can figure out some way to help you to do what you do better," Shareen begged her.

"Fine. You can go wherever I go for twenty four hours. Things around me can get dangerous very quickly though. Are you sure?" Rose asked hesitantly.

"Yes, I am," Shareen said with a determined look on her face.

"Okay. Don't blame me if you wind up facing down the gun stalk of a Dalek though!" Rose said worried.

The two of them went first to visit Rose's mother and brother on Pete's World. Shareen knew that she went to visit them at least once a week. She had never come with her though. She usually was working when she visited. She steeled herself for the visit. She hadn't seen Jackie Tyler in years. She wondered if she would be the same or not.

"Shareen Costello? I haven't seen you in a long time! It's so good to know that you and Rose have found each other again. I always liked you because I felt like you were looking after her when I couldn't," Jackie said as she gave Shareen a huge hug.

"I always tried my best to keep her out of trouble," Shareen said with a grin.

"Ha! More like the opposite!" Rose joked.

The three of them laughed, and Shareen breathed a sigh of relief. Things were just like they were before between them.

Shareen saw a little boy come running up to Rose, and she knew that this was Tony. Tony hugged Rose warmly and said, "I'm so glad that you're here! I missed you, Rose!"

"I missed you too. That's why I make sure to come early this week. I don't want you to think I've forgotten about you," Rose said with a grin on her face.

Shareen could tell that she loved the little boy a lot. She just kept hugging him and rubbing his hair. She also noticed that she looked at him guiltily sometimes when he wasn't looking. Shareen knew that this meant that Rose wished that she could see him more than once or twice a week for a short time. She knew that Rose felt like she was missing his whole childhood.

Shareen was glad that in this way at least that she was still the same. She still valued her family above everything else.

"This is my friend, Shareen," Rose said to Tony as she introduced him to her.

"Isn't it cool being best friends with a hero? She's better than Superman," Tony said proudly of his sister.

"I'm not a hero. I'm certainly not better than Superman," Rose said with a frown.

"You are a hero too, Rose. You could totally take Superman in a fight," Tony said with a big smile on his face.

Rose just laughed at him and said nothing more about it.

"I think she'd kick him into orbit!" Shareen whispered to Tony.

Tony laughed and decided he liked Rose's friend a lot. She seemed to love his sister almost as much as he did.

They said good bye to the two of them and were preparing to leave when Jackie took Shareen aside to talk to her in private.

"Promise me that you'll look after her for me. Watch over her like you used to, Shareen. I know she's got all this power now, but she's still my little girl. I still worry about her," Jackie said.

"I promise you I'll watch out for her. I'll do what I can to help her. It's the least I can do for her after how she's helped me," Shareen said.

"Thank you, sweetheart. That'll make me feel a little better to know that you're back looking after her like you used to," Jackie said with a look of relief on her face.

Shareen smiled back at her in reassurance, and the two of them left.

Next Rose got a distress signal from a ship being attacked by Daleks. The two of them materialized on the ship in Rose's TARDIS, and Rose rescued a woman and her children that were trapped there. The woman was hysterical, and Rose calmed her down by talking to her gently. This was also something that the past Rose would do.

Once the woman and her children were safely on her TARDIS, Shareen watched Rose go out into space and confront the Daleks directly. She annihilated all of them in one powerful blast of energy when they refused to give up and leave.

When Rose returned, Shareen looked at her face; and she saw pain there. She could see that it hurt Rose to even kill Daleks. She was glad that Rose didn't think of destroying anyone as okay or as nothing. She was still the same in that way as well.

Rose took the mother and children back to their home and the mother thanked Rose profusely. Rose seemed to be embarrassed with all of the praise being heaped on her. Still the same in that way as well Shareen noted.

Next Rose was asked to help a world that was under attack by a nearby planet. Instead of attacking the other planet, Rose and Shareen visited that world and found out that the attack was over a silly mistranslation of a communication between diplomats of both worlds. Rose actually ironed things out between them, and the two worlds made peace within a few hours. Rose had found a way to stop a war without using any of her powers. She had chosen peaceful means first over violence. Such a Rose thing to do! Shareen thought with a smile.

She noticed with concern though that Rose looked drained and worried for a while afterward. She quickly seemed to recover though when she saw Shareen looking at her and gave her a reassuring smile.

Next Rose suddenly diverted the TARDIS to a new destination as her eyes glowed gold for a second inexplicably. As soon as Rose landed her TARDIS, she ran out of it in a sprint, and Shareen could barely keep up to her. She had no idea what was going on, but she could see that Rose was very upset and worried about something.

Shareen just managed to catch up to her when she saw Rose destroying an army of killer androids that had been just about to kill Mickey! Mickey was unconscious on the ground, and it looked like he had been badly injured. Rose instantly healed him with a touch of her hand. Mickey woke up to see Rose standing over him, and he hugged her tightly. He was shaken from the fear of almost having died.

"Thanks, Rose! I . . . just thank you! I thought I was going to die for sure that time. I . . ." Mickey said awkwardly.

Rose smiled at him and said, "It's okay. My friends don't ever have to thank me for anything. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if anything bad ever happened to one of you, and I could have stopped it."

Then she hugged him tightly for several minutes. When she was sure that he was okay, she gave him a kiss on the cheek and left.

Shareen noticed that she had put on a brave front for Mickey; but when the two of them were alone, she started shaking.

"Rose, are you okay?" Shareen asked when they got back to her TARDIS.

"He almost died, Shareen! I just happened to feel that he was in trouble. I got some kind of warning through the Vortex. I think because I'm so attuned to him. His timeline is entangled in mine just like yours is. I got to him just in time. What if I hadn't known he was in trouble? What if I hadn't been in time?" Rose asked with tears in her eyes.

"It's not your job to protect everyone twenty four hours a day. You're not Superman, Rose! Tony might think so, but you're not. You're just one person. You can't be everywhere and save everyone," Shareen said.

"I should be able to! What's the use of all of this power if I can't use it to stop tragedy and to prevent death? It's my fault if I somehow miss something and someone dies. I have to keep vigilant and keep everyone safe. I have to protect everyone, Shareen. It's my fault whatever happens if I don't. I wish I was Superman. He always saves everyone. How many people have suffered because I didn't even know that they were in trouble? I don't want to let anyone down!" Rose said as she shook.

"That's not your job! You shouldn't have to be the protector of the universe. You do what you can, and that's all that you can do. Stop worrying about what you might miss or who you might not be able to save. You're going to drive yourself crazy if you don't!" Shareen said as she hugged Rose to her.

Rose silently cried for a minute, but her shaking slowly died down. She then silently whispered into Shareen's ear, "Thank you!"

Shareen realized that Rose Tyler was exactly the same woman that she had been before. Jackie was right. She still needed someone to sometimes watch out for her just like she always had before. Rose had always had a tendency to worry so much about others that she forgot to take care of herself. It had been Shareen's job to help her mother watch over her in the past, and it would now be so again.

Shareen had finally figured out how she could pay back Rose for her kindness. She could be there for her and give her someone to talk to. Hers was going to be in a way the most important job of all. She would be there to protect Rose from herself.

Rose wasn't Superman. No one was. Sometimes she needed someone to remind her of that. She needed Shareen and others to show her that despite her incredible power and her being a Time Lord that at her core she was still human. A very magnificent and extraordinary human named Rose Tyler that she was proud to call a friend. Yes, being Rose's friend was most definitely cool!

**Next: Rose tells her companions the full story about how the Doctor failed his TARDIS driving test . . . several times! It's a flashback to Rose's past as Arkytior as we get an idea of what kind of a person she was before she became Rose. **


	43. Chapter 43

CHAPTER 43

I do not own Doctor Who, and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews!**

Rose had decided to get together with all of her regular traveling companions and just have a night of fun instead of a life and death adventure for once. She decided to hold a party at Sarah Jane's house. Sarah Jane had wanted to hear her story about the Doctor's driving test again in more detail anyway.

She picked up Penny and Emma from Penny's apartment. Emma was staying with Penny while Jack was trying to create an identity and background for her so that she could have a life of her own in the present day. Penny didn't mind Emma being around at all. The two of them had become so close now that people often mistook them for sisters not just because of their similar appearance but because they got along so well and could even tell what the other was thinking.

Rose then picked up Jack from outside of Torchwood. She knew that Penny would love to see him again, and this night was as good an excuse as any to give them an extra date. Besides that Rose knew that Jack would find her story about the Doctor hilarious and that he would kill her if he missed it.

Rose didn't have to pick up Shareen, Oswin, or Gwyneth. The three of them were staying in her TARDIS. Shareen went to work during the daytime, but Gwyneth and Oswin obviously couldn't get jobs without an identity in the present. They had the same problem that Emma did. Jack was working on creating identities for them too using his Torchwood connections.

Rose wasn't sure that Oswin would ever be able to have any kind of a normal life anyway though. It didn't matter to her at any rate. Oswin could stay in her TARDIS as long as she wished as far as Rose was concerned.

Rose and all of her friends traveled to Sarah Jane's house where Sarah seemed to be as giddy as a schoolgirl as she received them at the front door. Someone wanted to hear this story again very badly! Rose thought with a grin.

All of them gathered together in Sarah Jane's attic, and they started to play some music while they ate and enjoyed themselves. They were all alone in the house with Sarah Jane because Luke was off at college with K-9 and Skye was staying overnight with a friend. The only one who didn't cooperate was Mr. Smith.

Mr. Smith insisted on remaining active instead of staying in his usual place behind the attic wall. Sarah Jane told Rose that he wanted to see her. Apparently he was a huge fan of hers. Rose didn't know how to feel about that. She'd never had a fan before. It made her somewhat uncomfortable.

They all sat down to eat while everyone looked at Rose expectantly for her to begin the story.

"Come on, Rose! I want to hear this story that Sarah Jane just keeps raving about," Jack said with a grin.

"Okay, I'll start it in just a minute. I want to remind you though that the person I was back then was in many ways the complete opposite of who I am now. So don't be too surprised by how different I was then," Rose said.

"We've got it. You were a different person. Time Lords are strange. Blah Blah Blah! Let's get to the story!" Penny said with a smart alecky grin on her face.

"You've got a mouth on you, mate. Alright, I'll get to it," Rose said.

She grew silent for a minute as she went back in time. Suddenly she was a different person again, and it was like she was reliving the events as Arkytior instead of just talking about them.

**Gallifrey, Hundreds of years ago **

Theta Sigma stood inside the test TARDIS that he was to use later that day for his driving test as he stared at the console. He studied its controls over and over again. He was sure that he had mastered them completely, but he had to be certain.

It was very important that he pass this test because he wanted to go to the stars so badly. He didn't want to be stranded here for the rest of his lives. It would be a horrible life cycle if he had to spend it all stuck on boring old Gallifrey doing a horrible desk job for a thousand years or more.

He felt a presence behind him and a momentary pang of fear shot through him. He wasn't supposed to be in here. No one was supposed to get a chance to study the TARDIS that they were going to use. You were supposed to know how to operate one by reading the manual alone. He hated the manual though. He couldn't make any sense out of it. He couldn't learn by reading. He had to do it in person.

He turned warily to see who was there. He was so glad to see that it was his good friend, Arkytior. He could count on her to keep quiet. She was always quiet anyway. She rarely talked except when she had something important to say. She usually let him do all of the talking for the both of them which was fine with him. He liked her a lot though. She was always very nice and sweet to him.

She was a good contrast to Cliodna who was always yelling at him and arguing with him all of the time. He liked Cliodna too though just in a different way. The two of them plus Koschei were his only real friends.

"I'm so glad that it's you, Arkytior. I was worried that I had gotten caught," Theta said with relief in his voice.

"Not yet. Maybe you should go back to your room before you do though. I don't want you to get expelled, Theta. It wouldn't be the same here without you," Arkytior said.

"Yeah, I imagine it'd be pretty boring around here without me and my antics to liven it up, huh?" Theta agreed with a grin.

"Yes, it would. That's why you need to go back to your room so you don't get caught. I don't want to get bored here without you," Arkytior said as she went along with his reasoning instead of telling him the real truth.

"I will in a minute. I just want to look at the controls just a little bit longer. I need to make sure I know them all. I don't want to fail," Theta said, looking worried for the first time.

"You'll do fine I'm sure. You're so smart you'll pass easily," Arkytior said with a sweet smile.

"Thank you. You always know what to say to make me feel better," Theta said with a big smile.

He realized that it wasn't what she said as much as that she believed in him. If she believed he could do it, he could. Her faith in him always meant a lot to him.

It was times like this that he realized just how much she meant to him. That was the real reason why he didn't want to fail. He didn't want to be thrown out of the Academy and never get to see her again. Plus he didn't want to fail her. She meant so much to him.

He knew that he should let her know just how much she meant to him, but he was afraid to. What if she didn't feel the same way? He didn't think he could take it. Better to keep the hope alive that she did rather than be told outright that she didn't.

Arkytior looked like she wanted to say something else to him for a minute, but she never did. He had half hoped for a minute that she would finally tell him that she felt the same way.

Arkytior cursed herself for not being able to tell him what he meant to her. She couldn't take the chance of losing him though. Better to have him as a friend than to confess her feelings for him and be laughed at for them.

**Present Day, Earth**

"I'm not seeing much of a difference here, Rose. You and the Doctor acted like that when I traveled with you too. It was exactly the same," Jack said with a smug grin.

"Shut up!" Rose said with a grin. She knew that he was right.

"She was different though. Rose not wanting to get into trouble? I can't imagine it. She wouldn't be trying to talk the Doctor out of it. She'd be right there with him. She'd be the lookout," Shareen said with a grin.

"You're right about that. I've certainly gotten less fearful in my old age," Rose joked.

**The Past**

Arkytior stayed with him as he continued to stare at the console of the test TARDIS. He stayed longer than a minute. He was still there twenty minutes later. He just stood there in silence, and so did Arkytior. She was always quiet anyway, but it was unusual for him to be quiet for so long.

"What are you two doing in here? When the other Professors find out, you'll both be expelled! This is against the rules, and you know it!" one of their instructors said. He was looking at them sternly, and Arkytior knew that he was going to ruin both of their lives in an instant. She became very angry. He wasn't taking Theta from her. Nothing would!

She was instantly covered in a golden glow, and all she could think of was that she wanted this to never have happened. Time rewound, and the instructor went back out of the test TARDIS. Instead of heading toward the test TARDIS to check it for the test later that day as he had been originally going to do, he changed his mind and decided to go to his classroom and put up the day's lesson early instead. It was just like it had never happened. Arkytior was the only one who remembered it. Theta went on about his business and kept studying the console like he had been.

Arkytior was terrified. She hadn't meant to do that even though she was glad that they were going to get to stay in the Academy. She was so afraid that she was going to get caught for using her power by mistake. She had to get better control over it so that a mistake like that never happened again.

Theta stopped looking at the console as he noticed Arkytior shaking and looking sick with worry out of the corner of his eye. He felt guilty for worrying her so much. He hadn't realized what effect that his staying here was having on her. He decided that he had been there long enough, and the two of them left silently without speaking.

They walked on to their morning classes together. Before they separated to go to their separate classrooms, Theta asked her, "Are you okay? I'm sorry for worrying you!"

"I'm fine," Arkytior said with a swift nod of her head.

Theta looked unconvinced as he saw that she still looked worried. He decided to let it go for now though, and he went on ahead to his first class. Later on that day, he noticed that she looked like she felt better, and he was glad.

She was also there to watch him as he took his driving test. In a way, he wished that she wasn't. She was a reminder of just what he had to lose if he failed.

He went ahead and started to dematerialize the test TARDIS as his instructor went along with him. He did that just fine. It was the rematerializing where he went so totally wrong.

Instead of coming back in the exact same location, he was suddenly several feet away and materializing almost on top of the President's TARDIS. He had come to watch the tests today personally. He was hovering right above it for now, but he was losing altitude. Any minute now he would be occupying the same time and space as it when he fully materialized! Both TARDISes would time ram and be destroyed! Not to mention it might cause a black hole large enough to destroy the universe!

"Stop! Go back! Hit the Fast Return Switch and go back to your previous location!" Theta's instructor screamed at him.

Theta was so nervous at being yelled at that he hit the wrong switch and fully materialized on top of the President's TARDIS. The test TARDIS was now sitting on top of it!

Theta was terrified that the President's TARDIS wouldn't be able to hold his TARDIS' weight and would collapse. When that didn't happen, he breathed a sigh of relief. At least both TARDISes were still intact. It could have been worse.

Then a second later, it was worse! Much worse! Theta's TARDIS went crashing through the roof of the President's TARDIS and totally smashed it to pieces. Theta panicked as it did so and before his TARDIS could hit the ground, he finally hit the Fast Return Switch.

"No. It'll take you to where you last materialized!" his instructor warned too late.

Theta's TARDIS was right back in the space where the roof of the President's TARDIS had been. It then fell like a stone and hit the rubble of the other TARDIS with a loud thud. Several bits and pieces broke off of the test TARDIS and one of its walls fell down.

Theta and the instructor were both uninjured somehow. He thought that he noticed a golden glow around them for a moment, but he must have been seeing things due to being upset.

"Sorry!" was all that Theta could think to say.

His instructor screamed at him for nearly an hour afterwards. The President could only look at the wreckage that had once been his magnificent TARDIS in despair as strange little noises came out of his mouth that sounded like a cross between a groan and a sob.

That was the first time that Theta failed his driving test. It was far from the last time.

**The Present**

Everyone was laughing hysterically at the Doctor's destruction of both TARDISes at once!

"I can totally believe that the Doc would do something like that. It sounds just like him!" Jack said in between laughs.

"You were saving him from himself even back then, Rose," Shareen noted.

"I couldn't let anything to happen to him even at the risk of being discovered. I was always so afraid that someone would find out, and I'd be labeled a monster," Rose said sadly.

Shareen put an arm around her to show her that she thought no such thing herself.

"Is that why you're helping me? Is it because you feel a kinship with me because you used to be afraid of people discovering what you were too?" Oswin asked.

"That's part of it and also because you're my friend. I always help my friends," Rose said.

Oswin nodded. She felt that she understood Rose a little better now.

"You were so shy back then. It's a wonder the two of you ever got together," Penny said.

"How did you ever get together with him? What broke the ice between you two? Also why wasn't he thrown out for failing the test like he feared that he would be? How did he get more chances to pass?" Emma asked curiously.

"I'll get to how he was allowed to stay in just a minute. As for our breaking the ice, that has to do with one of his other failed driving tests. I've still got plenty of story left to go before I get to that," Rose said as she got ready to continue.

**Next: Rose's story continues as she tells about the Doctor's other hilariously failed attempts to pass the driving test, and the day that they admitted to themselves that they loved each other for the first time. **


	44. Chapter 44

CHAPTER 44

I do not own Doctor Who, and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews!**

**Gallifrey, Hundreds of Years Ago**

Theta Sigma was so depressed that he didn't feel like saying a word. That was truly an unusual thing for him. It showed how badly he truly felt. He had been asked to leave the Academy. It was all over. He'd never get to go to the stars. Worse than that, he'd never get to see Arkytior again. He wasn't sure that he cared what happened to him for the rest of his lives now. Without her, he wouldn't care about anything anymore.

He just sat there on his bed not even bothering to pack. He had till tomorrow to leave the Academy. Maybe he'd just wait and do it early in the morning. Maybe he'd just forget about it and leave everything here that he had brought with him. He didn't care anymore. He didn't care about anything now.

He heard a knock on the door, and he opened it to see a very worried Arkytior standing there. He didn't even look at her. He couldn't face her after what he had done. What had happened was all his fault!

"Theta Sigma, you stop wallowing in self-pity right now!" Arkytior said to him angrily.

He looked at her in surprise. She usually never talked this directly and forcefully to him.

"I'm sorry. I just can't stand to see you like this," she said to him in a gentler voice.

"It's my fault. I didn't mean it. You have to believe that. I wanted to stay so badly. I'm sorry, Arkytior!" Theta said on the verge of tears.

Arkytior wondered why he was apologizing to her directly. Was it because he would miss her? Could it possibly be that he felt the same way that she did? Should she tell him now how she felt while she still had the chance? She struggled inside of herself to overcome her fear and self-doubt as she tried to convince herself to tell him what she had been dying to say to him for so long now.

She opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out. She panicked and couldn't speak. She cursed herself but couldn't overcome her fear of being rejected.

Theta saw the conflict on her face and wondered what it meant. Was she angry at him? Did she blame him too for what had happened? He couldn't stand to have her hate him. Anything would be better than that!

"Do you hate me?" He finally asked her after he had gathered up the courage.

"No! I could never hate you! Why would you ask such a thing?" She said passionately.

"I thought because I failed that you might be angry. I thought you might blame me because I can't stay here anymore. Your life's going to get boring now, and it's my fault," Theta said as he struggled to keep from breaking down in front of her.

"I know that it's not your fault. You put too much pressure on yourself and got too nervous. I've done the same thing. I won't blame you for that," Arkytior said softly with a sweet smile.

Theta relaxed and felt a little better but not much. At least he still had her on his side. As long as he had that, he hadn't totally lost.

"Do you think that we could see each other outside of the Academy? Maybe plan to meet together at some event or something?" Theta asked as he decided to try to feel her out. Was she interested in continuing their relationship now that he was leaving?

"I don't see why not. You're too good a friend for me to just forget about you. Don't worry about that happening," Arkytior said with a soft smile.

Theta nodded at her encouraging words. He hoped that she meant them. He wanted to at least keep seeing her in some form or another even if it was only every once in a while.

"You might not have to go you know. You might be forgiven and allowed to stay," Arkytior suggested.

"I doubt it. I don't think that I could be that lucky," Theta said sadly.

Another knock came on Theta's door. This time it was his head instructor, Professor Borusa. Theta was shocked to see him but let him in.

"Hello, sir. I'll be packed and gone by the morning. I was just saying good bye to Arkytior," Theta explained.

"There's no need for that, Theta. You're not going anywhere. A mysterious benefactor has come to your rescue. You're being allowed to stay and retake the test as many times as you need for you to pass!" Borusa said with a wide smile on his face. He liked Theta a lot and was glad that he was going to get to stay.

"What?! Who would help me? I don't know anyone high up," Theta asked in confusion.

"You must know someone Theta. Someone very high up asked for you to be allowed to stay. They said that they had faith that you would make an excellent Time Lord one day and should be allowed to continue. They even convinced the President to allow you to stay even after you destroyed his TARDIS. That couldn't have been an easy task," Borusa said with a grimace.

"I'm going to get to stay! I'm going to get to stay!" Theta said in excitement.

Without thinking, he hugged Borusa for half a second; then he hugged Arkytior tightly for much, much longer than he had Borusa. Borusa cleared his throat, and Theta realized what he was doing and let her go.

"Sorry! I was just so excited," Theta apologized to her sheepishly.

"That's fine. I understand," Arkytior said as she tried hard not to blush.

Borusa couldn't help but smile. It was so obvious to him that the two of them were deeply in love, but were too afraid to admit it to each other. He wished that they would. He knew that they would be perfect together. It wasn't any of his business though so he didn't interfere.

**Present Day, Earth**

"Who was it that helped the Doctor?" Emma asked Rose.

"I bet Miss Rose had something to do with it," Gwyneth said knowingly.

"Yeah, that kind of thing has you written all over it, Rosie. Especially since you had just told him how someone might help him," Jack said with a suspicious look on his face.

Rose looked at them stone faced for a long moment before she said anything. Finally, her face broke out in a wide grin as she admitted, "I might have had something to do with it."

"I knew it!" Jack shouted in triumph.

"I may have mentioned how I would die if Theta left the Academy to a certain someone who may have used her influence on the President and the entire High Council to keep the Doctor there," Rose said with an even larger smile.

"Who though?" Penny asked impatiently.

"Me!" a voice said from the doorway.

In stepped Amy Pond who sat down next to Rose as the two of them briefly hugged each other. Amy sat down and looked at their shocked faces in amusement.

"You?! Rose said it was someone named Cliodna who was one of the Doctor's only friends," Sarah Jane said confused.

"I am Cliodna," Amy admitted.

"You didn't say anything before though," Sarah Jane said still confused.

"I didn't know then. It wasn't until after that that I found out that I wasn't entirely who I thought that I was. I'm a Time Lady, Sarah Jane," Amy explained.

"So you were another human with a fob watch," Sarah Jane said in understanding now.

"Yep! Sorry for the confusion. It's weird to think back to when I heard that story not too long ago and to realize now that it was about me. I didn't even know it," Amy said as she gave a small smile.

"I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Time Lords are strange!" Penny said.

Both Rose and Amy just stuck their tongues out at her in unison, and everyone laughed at them.

"How did you manage to convince the President and the High Council to let the Doctor stay?" Oswin asked Amy.

"My family were very well connected and rich, and I was the one who was going to be the head of my House someday. I threatened to stop giving funding to the Academy or the government when I became head of the House in the next few years. We provided major support to all of their projects so that was a big deal. I have to confess that I was going to do what I did anyway even before Rose asked me to. There was no way that I was going to let the Doctor get thrown out!" Amy said.

"So you let me get all upset for nothing?" Rose asked.

"No. I wanted to see how you really felt, and I did. That was when I knew for sure that you really loved him," Amy admitted guiltily.

"Of course I did. I always did ever since the first day I met him," Rose said.

"How did you keep from punching him for not being able to see how you felt about him?" Penny asked irritated.

"It took great willpower sometimes for me to keep from screaming at him to notice how I felt. I was too afraid that he didn't say anything because he didn't feel the same way about me though. I didn't want to get embarrassed or laughed at," Rose said sadly.

The others looked sad for her and said nothing. She decided that she needed to go on with her story and cheer them back up.

**Gallifrey**

Theta was ready this time as he walked into his new test TARDIS and took his second shot at passing the driving test. At least he hoped that he was. If he messed up like he had the first time, he didn't know if even his anonymous benefactor would be able to save him this time.

He took to the controls and dematerialized his TARDIS. Then he attempted to land once again. This time he thought that he did very well. He rematerialized swiftly, and it had been no problem at all. He had done it just like the textbook said to.

He turned to the instructor confidently. He was sure that he was going to pass his test this time.

Instead, the instructor looked at him with exasperation as he said, "Theta, do you know what you just did?"

"I landed it just like the textbook said, sir," Theta said. What was he getting at? He wondered.

"Yes, you did; but you didn't land it in the correct place. Get outside of the TARDIS and see where we are," the instructor told him.

Theta walked outside and saw that his TARDIS had materialized inside of a wall! Luckily, they weren't in the half that was inside the wall; or that would have been very bad! Theta looked back to see that his instructor was shaking all over.

"Sorry!" Theta said with a sigh.

The instructor took early retirement later that day.

**Present Day **

"Oh, my!" Emma said with wide eyes.

"That's an extremely nice way of saying it. I won't ever go riding with the Doctor now even if he begs me. I'm so glad that I've got you instead of him to take me through the universe!" Penny said to Rose.

"You're being unfair to him, Pen. He's much, much better at driving now," Rose said.

"Mostly," Amy said with a smirk.

Sarah Jane just burst out laughing.

**Gallifrey**

Theta failed his third driving test by almost materializing his test TARDIS inside of the Eye of Harmony and setting off a chain reaction that would have destroyed Gallifrey if he hadn't have hit the Fast Return Switch in time.

He failed his fourth driving test by somehow damaging the dimensional control by landing too hard. The test TARDIS was now no longer bigger on the inside, and it instantly shrank in size on the inside to match the outside which was only just big enough for two people. He quickly found himself getting very up close and personal with his instructor, and it took a long time for the other instructors to get them out because they were wedged in together too tightly. Theta idly thought that he wished that Arkytior had been there with him instead.

He failed his fifth driving test by materializing several feet above several of the other instructors and almost falling on top of them before he managed to dematerialize just a second before he would have hit them. Arkytior had never seen people run so fast in her life!

Several instructors took early retirement later that day.

The sixth time he failed by somehow winding up hurtling toward Gallifrey's sun as he rematerialized. He narrowly missed getting himself and his instructor destroyed as he dematerialized just in time before he would have actually gone inside of it. The test TARDIS had no shields so when they came back it was thoroughly scorched all over and on fire.

Luckily, Theta and his instructor were unharmed yet again. Theta swore that he saw his instructor start glowing while they were almost inside the sun. He had thought at the time that they had been about to catch on fire!

Theta tried several more times and just kept failing. The last couple of tests all became a blur to him and by now most of the instructors refused to go with him or had mysteriously retired early.

He had failed the last time by failing to come to a stop when he rematerialized. He had finally landed on the right spot at last, but he just kept moving forward until he crashed into all of the other test TARDISes and demolished all of them including his own! He had had trouble with getting the brakes to come on. After that horrible experience, he would always leave the brakes on when he landed a TARDIS in the future.

He sat in his room in a severe depression. Arkytior hadn't seen him all day so she decided to come and check on him. She found him sitting on his bed with his head in his hands. She had never seen him so upset before.

"Don't give up, Theta. You'll pass it. You just need to study setting the coordinates a little more," Arkytior assured him.

"I'm not going to try it any more. I give up! I can't take it again anyway. I destroyed all of the test TARDISes! There's nothing left to pass the test with now, and I don't think that anyone would be my instructor anyway. I see instructors walking briskly away from me in terror now in the hallway. I think they're afraid I'll ask them to give me the test next," Theta said.

"You can't give up. If you do, I'll never see you again," Arkytior admitted.

"It's better that way. I'm a miserable failure! I'll never amount to anything. You'll be so much better off without me. You'll find someone who deserves to have a friend like you. I'm just a helpless, miserable worthless . . ." Theta said in misery until he was suddenly cut off by Arkytior exploding in anger.

"SHUT. UP! I won't hear you say one more word against yourself, Theta Sigma! You are the most wonderful man I've ever met. You're the smartest man on this whole miserable planet! You've always been there for me whenever I've had a problem and always helped make me feel better when I was upset or sad. You're not going to say anything more about how worthless you are! Do you hear me? I won't stand for it. You know why? It's because I love you! I love you with all of my hearts, you stupid, stupid oblivious brain dead man! How can you not have known how I feel? I've been practically throwing myself at you!" Arkytior erupted in rage.

She stood there in silence for a minute as she felt more embarrassed then she had ever been in her life. She was also more terrified than she had been since she first got her powers. She was just standing there in a panic waiting to see what his reaction would be. Her whole life revolved around this moment.

Theta began to smile with joy as he put his arms around her and held her tightly. He then began to kiss her. After he pulled away from their first kiss together, he said, "I love you too. I was just too afraid to say it. I am stupid! I'm so sorry. I . . ."

Arkytior interrupted him again as she said, "Shut up!"

Then she kissed him with many years' worth of stored up passion. They didn't stop kissing the rest of the night.

**Present Day**

"I think that I should stop there to avoid any embarrassment," Rose admitted with a snicker.

"Wait a minute! So did he pass his test after that or did he keep failing several more times?" Penny demanded to know.

"He passed right after that. I think that knowing that he was going to have me in his life no matter what kept him from being nervous anymore about it. He didn't put so much pressure on himself to pass anymore, and he just did it. I even found him a TARDIS to take the test in. It was an old Type 40 that my family owned that I had donated to a museum because it had a broken chameleon circuit," Rose explained with a fond smile at the memory.

"It's very romantic in a strange way. He kept failing so spectacularly because he was so terrified of losing you," Emma said.

"Yeah, he must love you a lot!" Penny said.

"I know he does. I always knew that there was some great loss in the Doctor's life. It was a reporter's instincts. He never confirmed it, but I knew. I would find him staring off into space sometimes and whispering a word to himself when he didn't know that I was there. It was a word that I didn't understand was a name at the time but now I do. It was your name, Rose. It was Arkytior!" Sarah Jane said happily.

"I never knew that. Thank you for telling me, Sarah Jane!" Rose said with a face wide grin.

"So that's the end of your story. Let's go to someone else's stories now. So how about we hear some stories from Captain Jack? I'm sure he's got plenty of them to tell us," Shareen said.

"Oh, yeah. I've got a million good stories. Some of them are even fit for mixed company," Jack joked.

"I've got a story of my own. I want to talk about the name that Rose gave to herself at the ceremony where we come up with our own names to replace the ones that our family gives us. Do you know what name she chose?" Amy said as she began to laugh at the thought of it.

Rose began to panic as she threatened, "Don't you dare! If you say it, I swear that I will disintegrate you right here!"

"You wouldn't dare!" Amy said back with a merciless grin on her face.

"Tell us!" Jack said.

He was dying to know! It must be very embarrassing for Rose to get so upset about it.

Amy started to say the name but all of a sudden she lost the ability to speak. She turned on Rose with angry eyes.

"Sorry, Ames! When you promise never to tell the name that no one must ever know then you might suddenly be able to speak again," Rose said with a grin.

"That's not fair! I really wanted to know too!" Jack groaned.

"Not in this lifetime, Jack Harkness!" Rose said with a grin.

When he finally found out that Rose had called herself Harmony Dancer many, many centuries later, the Face of Boe couldn't stop laughing. He laughed for several days until Rose finally teleported him into a supernova. Then the laughter quickly became a light snicker once she brought him back. Rose found that she could live with that.

It had taken him billions of years to learn her secret, but Jack thought that it was worth waiting for. You didn't come across a hilarious name like that every day! Some things were just worth waiting for.

The Doctor would certainly agree with that! the Face thought to himself as he saw the Time Lord walk by him holding Rose's hand with a huge smile on his face.

**Next: Who are all of those women who look like Rose, and what is Rose doing having secret meetings with them? Rose's companions just have to find out. **


	45. Chapter 45

CHAPTER 45

I do not own Doctor Who, and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews!**

Shareen was sitting in the console room watching television on Rose's TARDIS monitor when she was surprised to hear a knock on the door. She wasn't expecting anyone to visit. She turned the monitor to show the outside and was shocked to see Rose standing there. It was shocking because she knew that Rose was already inside!

"Rose!" Shareen shouted at the top of lungs.

"Do you think you screamed loud enough? I'm sure that they didn't hear you on Gallifrey just yet?" Rose smirked as she suddenly appeared next to her in a shower of golden energy.

"Rose, there's another you out there! What is going on? Is it the Pythia?" Shareen asked afraid.

Rose looked at the monitor and seemed to sigh in relief.

"It's nothing, Shareen. I'll go talk to her. Wait in here," Rose said with a reassuring smile.

Shareen watched the two of them on the monitor. She tried to turn the volume on to hear what they were saying, but Rose's TARDIS wouldn't let her. Apparently it didn't approve of her eavesdropping.

"I'm just worried about her," Shareen said to the console.

A beeping sound came from the console in answer to her that she thought meant that Rose's TARDIS was worried too. It was funny how she was growing to understand more and more what the noises of the ship meant the longer she stayed here.

Shareen continued to watch the monitor and saw even more women that could be Rose's twin appear, and she was soon talking to half a dozen copies of herself. Shareen wished that she could read lips so that she could see if Rose was in any trouble or not. She had promised her mum that she would watch out for her. She had to know if she needed her help or not.

The volume on the monitor suddenly came on, and Shareen could see Rose look straight at her on the monitor as if she knew that she had been watching her on it. Shareen knew that somehow she did know when she began to speak to her.

"Shareen, I'm fine. Stop worrying about me. I'm going to go with these people and discuss some things with them. It's nothing big. Go back to watching your soaps. They're much more interesting than I am," Rose said to her through the monitor.

"I hate it when you do stuff like that!" Shareen said with a wince.

"That's why I do it. I love to wind you up," Rose said with a playful smile as the monitor cut off and went black.

"It's very hard watching over someone when they always know when you're watching them," Shareen said with a sigh.

Oswin came into the room and smiled at the look on Shareen's face. She knew what that look meant because she had seen it a lot lately. Shareen had been sticking to Rose like glue ever since her mother had told her to watch out for her. Needless to say, Rose didn't like that. She was constantly calling Shareen on her eavesdropping.

"She told you off again, huh?" Oswin said with a snicker.

"In that nice Rose way of hers, yes," Shareen said.

"What did she catch you doing this time?" Oswin asked amused.

"She was with a bunch of women who looked just like her. They could have been her clones," Shareen said worried.

Now Oswin looked a little worried as her face changed to a look of surprise.

"That's weird! Who do you think they were?" Oswin asked.

"Not a clue. I only saw them on the monitor, and the TARDIS wouldn't let me listen to what they were saying. She said she was going somewhere to talk with them about something," Shareen said.

"Maybe we could still catch up to them. I'd like to know what's going on," Oswin said sounding even more worried.

"I thought you didn't approve of my eavesdropping from the way you're always laughing at me about it. Now you want to join me?" Shareen asked confused.

"This could be serious. Clones of Rose showing up and having secret meetings with her? That's not normal even for her. You know how Rose wouldn't tell us even if there was something wrong because she would want to protect us. We have to make sure that she's okay," Oswin said.

"There's no way to track her now. She left minutes ago. The trail would be too cold by now. Plus she's the Bad Wolf so if she doesn't want us to find her, we won't," Shareen said resignedly.

"Don't be so sure. Gwyneth, get in here!" Oswin yelled down the halls of the TARDIS.

"I already know what you want. I won't help you. I'm not telling you if I know what she's doing or not. I won't betray her," Gwyneth said firmly.

Oswin looked hurt by her language and tone as she responded back by saying, "I'm not asking you to betray her. I'm the last person who would ever betray her after what she's done to help me. I want to make sure she's okay. Tell me what you know about these multiple Roses."

"They're no concern of yours, Miss. It's her business, not yours and not Miss Shareen's. I understand that both of you are just trying to look out for her, but you have to accept that she's perfectly capable of looking out for herself. Stop worrying about her and go on about your own lives," Gwyneth admonished them.

She then turned around and left without another word being spoken. The two women realized that they were definitely not going to get anything out of her.

"Maybe she's right. Maybe we should just forget about it," Oswin relented.

"I guess, but I just have this gut feeling that this is something that we need to know about," Shareen said.

"Always go with your gut I say," said the voice of a young woman.

Both of them whirled around in surprise to see a young blonde woman standing there watching them. Oswin wondered in alarm how she got in there without her sensors detecting her.

"Who are you? How did you get inside the TARDIS?" Shareen asked in shock.

The woman looked confused for a minute; and then said, "Oh, yeah. This is the first time that you've met the older me, isn't it? Hello, Aunt Shareen. It's me, Cassie."

"Cassie? You mean as in Rose's baby? You're the baby all grown up from the future?" Shareen guessed.

"That's me. You're good at this. You put two and two together very quickly. You always were very smart though, Aunt Shareen," Cassie said with a warm smile.

"Aren't you breaking the Laws of Time or something by being here?" Shareen asked.

"Not breaking them. Just bending them a little," Cassie said with a sly grin.

"You're Rose's daughter alright. You have that same look on your face that she has when she's about to get into trouble," Shareen said knowingly.

"Me, get into trouble? Never!" Cassie said with a laugh.

"She's her daughter alright. There's that same innocent routine that Rose puts on when she's about to get in over her head," Oswin said sagely.

"Okay. You've got me. I get into trouble a lot. I try to do it at least six times a day before breakfast. I once got into trouble even when I was asleep," Cassie said with a proud look on her face.

"How do you get into trouble when you're asleep?" Shareen asked in disbelief.

"It isn't easy. Did you ever hear of the Dream Lord? Never mind. Let's just explain it by saying that I'm the daughter of the Doctor and Rose Tyler. Getting into trouble is in my blood," Cassie said with joy.

Shareen and Oswin laughed at her. They both liked her already.

"Why are you here now?" Shareen asked.

"I've come to help my mum. You see you're right to be worried about her, Auntie. She is in trouble. She doesn't think that it's anything worth worrying about right now; but she'll find out later that she's very, very wrong," Cassie said seriously.

"Aren't you changing the future by being here and telling us this?" Oswin asked curiously.

"It's all very timey wimey. Mum told me that you two are the ones that raise the alarm and bring her help when she needs it the most. She never did know how you knew where to find her though. You never told her. Who's to say it wasn't me who told you?" Cassie said, looking mischievous.

"You've got it all figured out, don't you?" Shareen asked.

"I'm an old hand at bending the rules, Auntie," Cassie said.

"I bet I like you," Shareen said happily.

"Don't tell anyone but you and Auntie Oswin are my favorite Aunts," Cassie said in a hushed tone.

Oswin looked surprised but pleased that she was included in Cassie's list.

"I loved to play with you growing up. We had great fun playing Time Lords and Daleks," Cassie said to Oswin with a fond grin.

Oswin looked alarmed as she asked, "I show what I am to you as a child? Aren't you scared?"

"No! You're my Auntie Oswin. I know you'd never hurt me," Cassie said simply.

Oswin smiled at that. It touched her deeply that the little girl would be able to look at what she truly was and not be afraid.

Cassie smiled sweetly at her for a moment, and then she got down to business.

"My mum is meeting versions of herself from alternate worlds. They're all Rose Tyler, but they're all different. They have different histories and abilities. Some of them are Time Lords and have powers, and some of them are ordinary humans. My mum has established contact with all of them and uses them as a network of informants to keep her aware of what goes on in the other universes. They regularly meet with her in secret and tell her about various threats to their universes that they need her help with. This latest threat is something very huge. This isn't a threat to just one universe. It's a threat to all of them!" Cassie said.

"What is it? What could be that dangerous?" Shareen asked.

"The Nightmare Child. It's escaped from its prison in the Vortex!" Cassie said ominously.

**Next: Shareen and Oswin gather together Rose's companions to go find her before she gets into trouble, and they also bring along two surprise friends of Rose's to help. Who are they?**


	46. Chapter 46

CHAPTER 46

I do not own Doctor Who, and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews!**

_We interrupt your usual boring omniscient narrator to bring you a special guest narrator for this chapter. I won't tell you my identity just yet though. You'll have to wait until the end of the chapter to find out who I am. It's more fun that way._

You're not the only narrator. I'm here as well. 

_Yes, yes, but you're not the main narrator. I am. You can come in from time to time and add a comment or two though I suppose._

How magnanimous of you!

_I thought so. I usually don't share the spotlight with anyone. Consider yourself a lucky girl. _

Oh, yes. I'm so lucky. I wonder what ever have I done to deserve such a thing? Really! I'm wondering!

_Sarcasm doesn't suit you, my dear._

I told you not to call me 'dear'!

_Yes, dear!_

**Can everyone shut up and tell the story already?!**

_Oh, yes. Of course I can, Mr. Writer. Where ever would we be without your management and constant oversight? (I make a mock salute to Time Lord Prime here, dear readers.)_

Sarcasm doesn't suit you either. Get on with the story.

_Yes, I suppose I should. I should really be the star of this story though instead of being stuck as the narrator. I helped Rose save the universe after all. I was the good guy for once, much as I hate to admit that._

_Anyway, here we go. Rose's daughter from the future, Cassie, had just told Rose's bunch of simpering sycophants, I mean companions, that Rose was soon to be in danger from the Nightmare Child. He was a creation of the Emperor of the Daleks who had escaped from his prison in the Vortex where Rose had imprisoned him._

_The extremely annoying Shareen Costello and that Dalek with delusions of humanity, Oswin Oswald, had then decided at that point to gather together all of Rose's other moochers in order to go and warn her. _

Stop calling them names. The only reason you don't like them is because they stood up to you instead of putting up with your smug attitude.

_I don't like them because they're insufferable idiots! Now where was I before I was so rudely interrupted? Oh, yes. The hangers-on were gathering together as they prepared to go find Rose at her meeting with her counterparts from the other universes._

_They had Cassie take them to that whiny brat Penny Miller's house where she lived with her grandmother Emma. Then Cassie decided to bring them to someone who could fly Rose's TARDIS for them since they didn't have the brains to figure out how to pilot it themselves. Cassie couldn't do it herself because the future Rose hadn't mentioned seeing her among them when her companions had come to help her in her own past. She didn't want to take the chance of altering the timeline by being there. _

_Therefore she came to get someone else to help who Rose had remembered being there when she told the story of that day to Cassie in the future. She came to get that magnificent and wonderful peerless personage called Koschei. Along with that incredible man was his girlfriend, Marissa Queen. Marissa followed him everywhere because she couldn't stand for one moment not to be basking in his illuminating presence._

I'm sure that no one has figured out who you are now. That is such a stumper! You have no idea how much of a smug shallow prick you are, do you? __

_I love you too, dear._

Shut up!

_She really does love me. She just won't admit it. Cassie left Rose's cast offs with Koschei and Marissa, and she asked them to take them with them in Rose's TARDIS in order to go and help her against the coming threat of the Nightmare Child. Koschei generously offered to help in any way that he could._

Ha! You whined like a little baby about it you mean. I had to practically drag you kicking and screaming into it. All you could do was gripe about how you weren't going to be saddled by a bunch of incompetent buffoons. You kept going on about how you could save Rose singlehandedly and didn't need their help. __

_Well I didn't need their help. I do admit that they later came in handy, but I still could have saved the day without them. They weren't indispensable. Thanks oh so much for telling them who I am by the way! They weren't supposed to know yet. _

They already figured it out! 

_How do you know? I thought I was hiding my identity very well until you went and bungled it._

**I'm never asking anyone else to narrate a story for me ever again!**

_Shut up, Prime! No one wants to hear your whining. I'm trying to tell a story here. Now I left off at the part where Marissa and I were taking Rose's pets to find her before the Nightmare Child did. Cassie had told me that Rose was having a meeting with her alternate universe selves in a special place inside the Vortex itself. She gave me the directions on how to find it before she went back to the future, and I had us there within moments._

You did not. You took about an hour trying to find their secret meeting place. I thought you would never stop yelling about Cassie's "confusing and inane" directions. Somehow I managed to get us there in between your rants.

_What matters is that we got there. We arrived just in time to see the Valeyard appear and interrupt the meeting of the Roses. _

_You see it was he who had freed the Nightmare Child. He had the Doctor's memories after all because he used to be a part of him, and he had remembered that Rose had known the location of the Nightmare Child but had refused to give it to the Daleks. _

_All the Valeyard had to do was wait until the day that the Daleks attacked Rose to find out where the Nightmare Child was and then follow her until she eventually led him to it. He knew that Rose would eventually go to check and make sure that it was still there once she had gotten reminded about it by the Daleks' attack. He then waited until she left and broke the monstrous thing out of Rose's prison. _

_He set him loose upon one of the other universes first to test how well he did there. The Nightmare Child devastated one universe and then went on to devastate another one and so on. The Roses decided to warn our Rose about it just as the Valeyard knew that they would. That was when the Valeyard brought his new toy to attack our Rose directly. It was a perfectly planned ambush!_

_It's a good thing that I was there to help stop him. He didn't stand a chance against my superior intelligence!_

I think, Time Lord Prime, that you should stop this chapter right here. You might want to give your readers an accurate report of the events to come, and they won't get it from Koschei.

_It's just as well. I've grown tired of this constant chattering anyway. It was somewhat enjoyable though. I may decide to do it again at some point in the future._

**Over my dead body!**

_That could be arranged. Remember who you are speaking to! I am Koschei. You may call me Master._

Really? That's your farewell line?

_You ruined it. That would have been a perfect way to end this chapter._

Whatever.

**Next: I resume control of the narration (Yay!) as Rose and her friends confront the Valeyard and the Nightmare Child at the meeting place of the alternate Roses. I promise that Koschei will not narrate next time. **

_Don't be too sure about that!_


	47. Chapter 47

CHAPTER 47

I do not own Doctor Who, and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews!**

Rose Tyler was listening to her alternate universe counterparts tell her about the attacks on other universes by the Nightmare Child when suddenly the Valeyard appeared right in the middle of their meeting with that same much talked about Child standing right next to him.

Rose summoned the power of the Vortex as she got ready for what might possibly be the battle of her life when suddenly she heard the sound of a TARDIS materializing. Her hearts sank as she realized who must be coming. She watched with apprehension as her TARDIS finished its materialization, and her companions emerged from it. She was filled with fear for them. How had they gotten here anyway? The answer soon became apparent when Koschei and Marissa came out of the TARDIS with them. How in the world did they know where to find her?

That was a question best answered at another time if there ever was another time. The Nightmare Child just might ensure that there wasn't.

"I expected Rose's motley crew of misfits to be here, but I must admit that I'm surprised to see you two here. What's the matter, Koschei? Life as a "good guy" too boring for you?" the Valeyard taunted.

"Not as boring as life as a complete and utter moron must be for you," Koschei shot back with an evil grin.

"I should have known that you'd be behind all of this. What are you getting out of this? I thought ruling over everything was more your style than total destruction," Rose said.

"That was all just to get your attention, dear Rose. I knew that all of that devastation would soon be brought to your attention; and you, being the goody goody that you are, wouldn't be able to stop yourself from coming to help. Now I have you and your counterparts right here all together in one place where my little friend here can wipe you all out at once! Thanks for helping make my life easier, Arkytior my sweet," the Valeyard said with a mirthless laugh.

Rose shivered at his terms of endearment for her. She knew that he was intentionally using them to hurt her through her feelings for the Doctor. He was a twisted version of the man that she loved after all. That was just another reason for her to take him down fast and hard. She didn't usually enjoy causing others pain, but maybe just this once she might make an exception.

Her thoughts were quickly derailed when the Nightmare Child stepped forward from behind the Valeyard, where he had been standing up until now as if he were hiding from her. He looked deceptively innocent at first just like an ordinary child. Then he started to glow with energy all over his body, and his face twisted into an angry scowl.

"What do you fear? What is your greatest nightmare?" he asked Rose in a mature, almost adult voice.

Rose could feel him attempting to get inside her head as he tried to root out her innermost thoughts and feelings. This was what he did. He found out a person's greatest fear and used it against them. He gained strength and energy through the psychic energy generated by fear. The more afraid someone was, the more powerful the Nightmare Child became.

The first Nightmare Child was used by the Dalek Emperor during the Time War and eventually became so powerful from the collected fear generated by the war that he swelled to gargantuan proportions and became almost unstoppable. He was only destroyed by Davros flying his ship inside of his mouth and setting it to self-destruct while inside of him. Davros had opposed the Dalek Emperor during the War. He didn't do it because of any love for the Time Lords, but because he wanted control of the Daleks for himself.

From the reports that Rose had heard from her alternate universe counterparts, this current Nightmare Child had already destroyed several universes. He had left every living being in them a shivering, pathetic wreck or dead from their hearts exploding from the overload of too much fear at once to their systems. Now here he was attempting to do the same thing to her.

She blocked him from her thoughts for the moment, but his mind was so strong that she knew that she couldn't do it forever. She was already starting to feel a general aura of mindless fear and panic beginning to come over her and overtake her. Once he broke into her mind, that feeling would get so much worse.

Shareen looked at Rose with worry as she could see that Rose was starting to shake all over as if she was scared to death of something. She realized that the Nightmare Child was doing this to her, and she was suddenly filled with anger over this thing attacking her friend.

"If you want to pick on someone, pick on me and leave her alone!" Shareen challenged the Child.

The evil creature just looked at her with a sneer, and Shareen quickly became a shivering huddled mass on the floor as she collapsed to the ground. She had been completely overwhelmed by the sheer weight of the collected fear that the Child had just unleashed in her psyche.

"Thank you for your kind invitation. You are an excellent source of nourishment. You are full of a delightful assortment of delicious fears and worries. You fear being homeless, you fear being alone, you fear being a burden on your friends, you fear being useless in a fight, and most of all you fear that something terrible will happen to your dear, dear Rose. You fear that more than anything. That your best friend will die because you didn't watch her vigilantly enough. You're afraid of letting her down. That is your greatest fear, Shareen Costello! You are afraid that your incompetence will wind up killing Rose Tyler. Now watch it happen over and over again in your mind. Watch the events unfold," the Nightmare Child taunted her with evil delight.

Shareen started to scream in absolute mind numbing fear as she shook and writhed in agony on the floor. Rose ran to her and put her arms around her as she said, "It's not real! I'm right here. I'm all right. Shareen, I'm all right!"

Shareen couldn't hear her though. All that she could hear was the illusion of her greatest fear that the Child had created in her mind and trapped her in.

"You're going to pay for this!" Rose screamed at him.

Rose put Shareen to sleep so that she wouldn't suffer as much, but Shareen still shivered and screamed out even then as the illusion turned into a nightmare in her sleeping brain.

"That's one of your friends down. Which one should I feed off of next? Perhaps Oswin Oswald? I can feel from her that she's full of fears of herself and what she could do with all of that power at her command if she would just let her inner Dalek free," the Child taunted.

"You want to find out what I can do? See for yourself!" Oswin screamed at him as she turned off her perception filter and flew towards him fully revealed as a Dalek. She blasted him several times with her gun stalk as she shouted, "EXTERMINATE!"

The Nightmare Child laughed at her as he said, "You've let your other side take control in the futile hope that it will save your friends. It won't work, little Dalek girl. Your weapons are defenseless against me. Also I can still control your mind even as a Dalek. I know what all Daleks fear, Oswin. Let me show it to you."

Oswin began to scream after she turned her eye stalk to look at Rose. Rose realized with horror that the Dalek part of her was afraid of the Bad Wolf. The Child was using her against her own friend to help kill her!

"Oswin, I would never hurt you! What you're seeing is not real!" Rose screamed at her but she knew that it was a futile act. Oswin couldn't hear her any more than Shareen could.

Oswin came crashing down to the floor and kept screaming in mindless fear as she lay there.

"Two down!" the Child said as he smiled with perverse pleasure at Oswin's pain.

"He's going to keep attacking us all if you don't stop him. Only the Bad Wolf can stop him now. You have to shut off the part of your mind that is Rose Tyler and let the Wolf take control. Only the Wolf has a chance of stopping this foul thing," Gwyneth advised Rose.

"I can't do that. I don't know what the Wolf will do. She has no concern or feeling for others. She might not even care what happens to anyone else," Rose said with fear.

She realized that the Child was starting to affect her more and more now. Those last words came in part from his influence.

"That's what he wants you to think, Miss Rose. He fears you. The Bad Wolf is his greatest fear! You must use it against him," Gwyneth said.

"How do you know this?" Rose asked.

"I work for the future you. I know a lot about you that even you don't realize at this point in your life. You don't need to be afraid of the Bad Wolf. The Bad Wolf is you. She will save us because you would save us. She is the pure undiluted part of you that is unaffected by emotion or sentiment. She does the right thing because it is the right thing to do pure and simple. She has no fear for the Child to control, Miss Rose! Let her have control!" Gwyneth pleaded.

"Shut up, servant of the Wolf! I know what your fear is. You fear failing your mistress. You fear her thinking that you're stupid and incompetent. You fear her thinking that you are disloyal and unworthy to help her. You fear being useless. Watch Rose tell you how pathetic you are over and over again in your mind, psychic witch!" the Nighrmare Child said with an evil laugh.

Rose snarled at the Child in fury as she watched Gwyneth scream and cry on the floor. She turned to see terror in the faces of Penny and Emma as they watched their friends being reduced to whimpering, cringing messes. She knew that they knew that they were next.

Rose knew what she had to do. She feared the Wolf but not as much as she feared what might happen to her friends.

Rose put her own psyche to sleep and let the Wolf emerge and take control. She hoped with her last conscious thought that she was doing the right thing.

The Nighrmare Child cringed as the Bad Wolf took control of Rose's body. He had sensed her coming immediately.

"I am the Bad Wolf. I see you for what you really are. You are insignificant and tiny. I see your threat to all of existence, and now I will act to erase it. Fear me, Nightmare Child, for I am your end," the Bad Wolf proclaimed as she advanced toward him.

**Next: The Bad Wolf vs. the Nightmare Child. Does anything else need to be said? **


	48. Chapter 48

CHAPTER 48

I do not own Doctor Who, and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews!**

The Bad Wolf stretched out her hand toward the Nightmare Child, and he began to spasm out of control as she shut down his bodily functions one by one. The Bad Wolf was not in any way Rose at the moment. She had no mercy for her enemies.

The Nightmare Child began panicking and started making everyone around him start experiencing their greatest fears all at once in order to drain power from them. He was suddenly able to fight back now against the Bad Wolf and restored his body back to normal for the moment. Everyone except the Bad Wolf, the Valeyard, Koschei, and Marissa was now on the floor in agony reliving their greatest fear over and over.

Koschei and Marissa had been able to put their highest mental shields up in order to protect their minds. That was the only thing protecting them for the moment. They knew that their defenses wouldn't last forever though. They could already feel the Child's influence starting to enter their minds.

Koschei watched the Valeyard smiling with glee at the scene unfolding before him, and he knew that something was wrong. The Valeyard never smiled unless he knew that he was winning. What could possibly make him think that he was winning though? Koschei knew then that was something more going on here than just a fight between the Bad Wolf and the Child. He would have to quickly figure out what it was before it was too late.

The Child tried and tried to get something out of the Bad Wolf's mind, but he could find nothing to use there. The Bad Wolf feared nothing. She had no emotions to manipulate. He felt as if he were battling a machine instead of a living being.

He decided to try a new tactic instead. He reached out and assumed control of his victims and started using them against the Bad Wolf. He convinced them all using his mental illusions that she was their enemy and convinced them to start attacking her.

Marissa tensed up as she feared that the Bad Wolf might attack the others. She started to yell to her to leave them alone, but she found to her joy that she didn't need to. The Bad Wolf made no move to attack them. She merely put them to sleep with a wave of her hand.

The Child hissed in frustration as everything he tried against her failed. Then he started to feel like his body was on fire, and he looked down at himself in horror as he realized that he was fading away. The Wolf was disintegrating him!

Koschei watched the Valeyard suddenly leave the room as his servant started losing. He quickly ran after him with Marissa fast behind him.

The Valeyard started laughing as he ran into his waiting TARDIS, and it quickly dematerialized. The two Time Lords then watched helplessly as the room that they had just left was suddenly filled with knock out gas as walls made out of dwarf star alloy came down around the still battling Bad Wolf and Nightmare Child. Koschei could see both of them fall to the ground right before the walls completely cut them off from view. Their new prison then swiftly vanished as it was transmatted away along with its two occupants.

"He's taken her. That was his goal all along. He took her right out from under our noses," Koschei said in frustration.

"He wanted her out of the way. Now there's no one to stand against the Nightmare Child," Marissa said.

Koschei raced into the room where Rose's companions lay asleep and started shouting at them to wake up.

"Wake up, you useless parasites! Rose has been taken away by the Valeyard. Get up!" he screamed at them.

Shareen came running up to him with a terrified expression on her face as she yelled, "You idiot! Why didn't you stop him?"

"Listen here, you mindless . . ." Koschei started to say back to her before Marissa put her hand over his mouth and shook her head at him.

Marissa stepped in between the two of them as she said, "This doesn't do us any good. The Valeyard fooled all of us. He had us so focused on the fight between Rose and the Nightmare Child that we didn't even think that he might have something else planned. We have to find out where he took her before it's too late. He'll send the Child out again to attack this universe very soon now as soon as it has recovered from Rose's attack. We have to find her and rescue her before that happens."

"She could be anywhere by now even in the Pythia's old universe which the Valeyard rules now. We'll never find her in time to stop the Nightmare Child. I should have realized what he was up to sooner," Koschei berated himself with an anguished expression on his face.

Marissa surprised herself by giving him a quick peck on the lips as she said, "There was nothing that you could have done. None of us knew what was going on."

Both of them then looked at each other in shock because this was their first kiss. Koschei began to smile as Marissa's face flushed with embarrassment.

"We don't have time for you two to finally figure out that you love each other. We have to start tracking down Rose right now!" Shareen said impatiently.

Oswin came walking toward them with her fists balled up in anger. She looked like she wanted to do some heavy duty exterminating with a vengeance.

"I'll help you find her. I can trace her unique energy signature anywhere. The Valeyard's not getting away with what he did to me. He's also not going to hurt my friend. I'm going to enjoy exterminating him!" Oswin said with her voice filled with bile.

Shareen looked at her in apprehension. She could see that Oswin had been deeply traumatized by this whole experience, and she feared that it was now letting the Dalek part of her gain the upper hand.

Oswin could see the look of concern that Shareen gave her and said in a gentle tone, "I'm okay. I'm just angry."

"So am I. I'm not letting him get away with this. Rose helped me fix my life when it had fallen apart. She did what no one else could and helped to make me happy again. I'm not going to let him do anything to her. I'm going with you and we're going to track her down. Then I'm going to personally kick the Valeyard into the sun!" Penny said furious.

"I'm coming too. He not only attacked Rose, but he also attacked Penny. I'm not going to let him get away with that. No one hurts my baby!" Emma said more enraged than any of them had ever seen her.

Penny looked at her with a strange look on her face as if seeing her for the first time. She had never expressed such affection for her before. Emma wrapped her arm around her and hugged her tightly.

"You're just like my own child. I won't let anyone get away with hurting you," Emma said as she kissed Penny on the cheek.

Penny was startled by this. She realized that Emma now thought of herself as Penny's second mother instead of as a surrogate sister as she used to. She wondered how much more their relationship would continue to evolve.

"This is my fault not any of yours. I failed Miss Rose. If I hadn't told her to become the Bad Wolf, maybe this wouldn't have happened. I'm coming too to make up for what I did. Maybe my abilities can help us find her," Gwyneth said with guilt on her face.

"That's not true, and you know it. This would have happened whether she had become Bad Wolf or not. The Valeyard fooled everyone including Rose," Shareen said.

All of them got into Rose's TARDIS then with a renewed determination to find her and save her before the Valeyard could unleash the horror of the Nightmare Child on this universe. Each of them felt guilty and blamed themselves for what had happened and each of them felt that they had to do something to make up for it.

Meanwhile across time and space, the Doctor felt that something was wrong through his mental link with Rose. He couldn't reach her telepathically, but he kept feeling her try to reach out to him in despair.

"I'm coming, Rose. Nothing is going to stop me from reaching you," he said out loud.

**Next: Koschei, Marissa, and Rose's companions hunt down Rose while the Nightmare Child is set loose on the universe. Meanwhile, the Doctor begins his own search and brings along Captain Jack Harkness to help.**


	49. Chapter 49

CHAPTER 49

I do not own Doctor Who, and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews!**

Koschei followed Oswin's directions as he piloted Rose's TARDIS. She was tracing Rose's unique energy signature with her Dalek technology. They had to find Rose quickly so that she could stop the Nightmare Child. There were already several reports of him having appeared on other worlds and attacking the people there. The Time Lords had been able to drive him off before he did too much damage every time, but they had noticed that he was growing stronger each time that they confronted him. Soon they feared that he would be too powerful for anyone to be able to stop.

They managed to track Rose down to, of all places, Gallifrey! It was a spot in the middle of the wilderness. They couldn't find her there though when the TARDIS landed at the spot where Oswin insisted that she was. Everyone was confused. They looked all around the area, but she was nowhere in sight.

"I'm getting her energy signature from this very spot." Oswin insisted with a worried look on her face.

"I don't understand it either. The TARDIS' sensors are saying that she's here too although there do seem to be some confusing and conflicting readings though. It keeps insisting that where she is is a marshland area and not the wasteland that we're seeing," Marissa said.

"I can explain that. The readings that you're getting are showing the coordinates that she is in in E-Space," said the voice of The Doctor from behind them.

They turned to see him standing there with Jack Harkness next to him. Penny ran up to Jack and kissed him. She was glad that at least one thing had gone right today.

"E-Space? I haven't thought about that place in a while. I wonder if there is still a way there," Koschei said.

"Yes, there is. There's still one Charged Vacuum Emboitment left that leads there. No thanks to you!" The Doctor said in a bad mood.

"You still haven't let that whole incident go, have you?" Koschei said with a sigh.

"I lost one of my lives while stopping you from shutting it down," The Doctor said angrily.

"I was literally a different man back then. Get over it!" Koschei said callously.

"Charged Vacuum Emboitment? E-Space? What are you two talking about?" Penny said in utter confusion.

"E-Space is a small pocket universe existing alongside this one. It's similar to ours and yet different. A race of people called the Logopolitans discovered that our universe was in dangerous of collapsing a long time ago by growing too big so they shunted excess matter from this universe into E-Space in order to prevent it from growing too big and to stave off the destruction of everything. They shunted this excess matter into E-Space via Charged Vacuum Emboitments or CVEs. They serve as transit points between the two universes that were created by the Logopolitans to save our reality. All of them but one were shut down though thanks to the Master who killed the Logopolitans who were keeping all of them open. I managed to save one from him at the cost of my fourth life and stabilized it so that the excess matter of this universe could continue to go through it into E-Space and preserve it from collapsing," the Doctor explained.

"So Rose is in this other dimension. Why do our instruments keep telling us that she's on Gallifrey though?" Oswin asked.

"Because E-Space is a negative universe that exists alongside of ours and has negative coordinates that are the counterpoints to the positive coordinates to places in our reality. Rose is in these exact coordinates in E-Space not here. Another planet exists in these coordinates there called Alzarius. Alzarius exists there where Gallifrey is here. My companion Adric came from Alzarius. It's a world covered in marshlands. The instruments of the TARDISes can't properly process negative coordinates so they show that she is here and yet there at the same time," the Doctor said.

"Well, let's go through this CVE and go and get her then," Shareen said.

"I plan on doing that but I have to tell you that it will not be an easy ride. It's hard to go between universes inside of a CVE even in a TARDIS. It's not impossible though. It will be very dangerous so I feel that I have to warn any of you that want to go about that beforehand," the Doctor said.

"I'm still going, and I'm willing to bet that everyone else will too," Shareen said.

No one contradicted her. The Doctor just smiled in pride. All of them then proceeded to get into the Doctor's TARDIS, and they dematerialized as they started the journey to find their friend.

They proceeded through the CVE, but it took a long time to pass through it. It was a very bumpy and hazardous ride as the Doctor tried his best to navigate the various dangers inside of the volatile area.

The Doctor told everyone that it may take several hours so they should probably get some rest. He realized that they had all been awake for a long time by now and were probably exhausted.

Shareen had a fitful night. She couldn't go to sleep. She kept trying to, but she just couldn't. She was too worried about Rose to allow herself to rest. She wanted to do something to help find her, and she wanted to do it now. Finally, she fell asleep due to sheer mental exhaustion.

As she drifted off, she started to dream. She dreamed of herself facing off against the Valeyard and slapping him hard in the face for daring to lay a hand on her friend. Her dream was then interrupted by a voice that seemed to come from everywhere at once.

"I thought you'd never go to sleep," the voice said with irritation.

Shareen looked around her in surprise as she somehow knew that the speaker didn't belong in her dream. She eventually located the owner of the voice, and her eyes widened in shock and surprise.

Hours later, everyone was awakened by the Doctor as he finally made it to the coordinates of the planet Alzarius. It was very hard to navigate a TARDIS in E-Space due to the negative coordinates there. They played havoc with a TARDIS' positive coordinate based guidance system. The Doctor had had to do several of his own calculations in order to get them to the right place.

The materialized a few feet away from Rose's location so that they could sneak up on the Valeyard and whoever else might be guarding her.

"You know that this is a trap. It's just the kind of thing that I would have done to you in the old days," Koschei said.

"I know it's a trap, but I have no choice. I can't let them keep Rose. I won't ever let anyone take her away from me again," the Doctor said with a determined set to his jaw.

"That's very noble, but it doesn't excuse you getting yourself killed," Shareen said.

The Doctor looked at her in surprise. She was the one who had been all gung ho to go and get Rose. Now she was advising caution.

"I thought that you wanted to get Rose as quickly as possible. You couldn't wait to get here," the Doctor said suspiciously.

"I do want to get her, but I don't want to get any of us killed while we do it," Shareen said in a much calmer tone than she had had before when they had spoken.

"I have to admit that I like this version of you much better than the one I've had to deal with before. You're usually all emotional and yelling," Koschei said with an amused look on his face.

"If you'd take more time to understand how humans think and feel, then you would get along with them better. You have to learn to be more sympathetic towards them," Shareen said.

Koschei looked at her strangely. This didn't sound at all like the woman that he had come to know. She sounded like someone else entirely, and she sounded strangely familiar to him.

The Doctor looked at her oddly as well. He knew now that someone had taken over Shareen's mind, but he had no idea who it was yet or why. Perhaps it was another trick by the Valeyard. He would have to watch her extra carefully now.

Jack looked at Shareen with a smile and winked at her. Shareen smiled warmly back at him. Penny scowled at him. Was he flirting with Shareen? Since when had that happened? Jack had never flirted with her before.

They all poured outside and started silently walking toward the exact spot where Oswin had tracked Rose to. Rose's other companions all looked at Shareen suspiciously. They had all sensed that she wasn't herself anymore as well. Everyone looked at her with mistrust now. All but one of the people present who knew exactly what was going on and couldn't help but smile at the confusion of the others.

The Doctor reached the scene first and hid behind a rock. He could see Rose lying unconscious inside of a steel tube filled with gas. Standing near her was the Valeyard. He clearly knew that the Doctor was there as he looked right at his location and laughed.

"Come on out, Doctor. I know that you're there. That goes for whoever else came with you as well. All of you come out and face me, or I'll pump poison gas into Rose's tube," the Valeyard said with an evil grin.

Everyone came out where the Valeyard could see them. He grinned at them in triumph as he said, "That's better. Now you all may think that you're very clever tracking me down here to E-Space, but you've actually fallen into a trap. I wanted you to come here so that I could cut you off from the other Time Lords. In this place, no one will be able to come and help you. No one will ever know what happened to you. They'll never even think to come here to find you. It was the perfect way for me to be rid of all of you forever."

"I knew that it was a trap. I had to come though because I couldn't let you have Rose. I'd risk anything to save her," the Doctor said enraged.

"I know. I know how you feel about her better than anyone, remember? I was counting on your feelings for her making you stumble blindly into my trap, and they did. Come on out here, child," the Valeyard said to a figure hiding a couple of feet away.

The Nightmare Child stepped forward and immediately started bombarding everyone but the Valeyard with their worst fears.

"Good bye, Doctor! I'm taking Rose with me back to our universe. I want you to die knowing that you failed to rescue her. You're going to die for nothing. You'll be left here to rot, and no one will ever find your bodies," the Valeyard said laughing.

He then opened the doors to his TARDIS which he had turned invisible and left hidden nearby. The Nightmare Child helped him move Rose into his TARDIS as he prepared to leave with her. He planned on coming back here later once his enemies were all dead in order to pick up the Child and, of course, to gloat over their dead bodies.

He hadn't noticed though that the Doctor had seemed to be unaffected by the Nightmare Child's powers. He kept moving toward the Valeyard undeterred and punched him square in the jaw to his immense surprise.

"Why aren't you on the ground in agony like all of the other fools?" the Valeyard asked in shock as he rubbed his jaw.

"Your little wunderkind's power doesn't work on me, Valeyard. It looks like you're going to have to fight me without it," the Doctor said with a triumphant smile.

"Don't think I won't," the Valeyard said as he pulled out a demat gun and pointed it straight at the Doctor.

"That would be a bad idea. You'll probably wind up erasing yourself too," the Doctor said.

"I'm a stabilized temporal anomaly, Doctor. It doesn't matter what I do to you. I'll still be fine," the Valeyard said smugly.

"Will you? How about when I slap you about a million times? Will you still be fine then?" Shareen said.

Both the Doctor and the Valeyard looked at her in surprise. She was unaffected by the Child's powers too somehow as was Jack who was standing next to her.

"How are you unaffected? It drove you near to madness the last time that he attacked you," the Valeyard said in shock.

"It brought Shareen to madness, yes. I'm not Shareen though," Shareen said with a wide grin.

The Doctor looked at her with an ever widening grin beginning to spread over his own face as he had finally figured it out. He couldn't stop smiling at what he had just found out.

The Valeyard, however, was still clueless. He was enraged beyond belief that Shareen was still on her feet defying him.

"Destroy her!" the Valeyard shouted at the Child.

The Child increased his power's affects to the maximum and directed them at Shareen at full intensity. There was still no effect on her. She still stood there looking at him defiantly.

The Valeyard grew frustrated at the Nightmare Child's failure and attempted to fire his demat gun at them. He was quickly given two punches to the jaw at the same time by both the Doctor and Jack that left him reeling and backing away from them in a daze.

Shareen then walked up to him and slapped him across the face so hard that you could hear the popping sound a mile away. Then she slapped him on the other side of his face even harder for good measure!

The Valeyard was in immense pain now and in a daze, but he still recognized that slap. He'd know it anywhere. The Doctor had been on the receiving end of it often enough that he'd never forget it.

"Rose!" the Valeyard said with his eyes wide open in complete surprise.

"Well, that took you long enough!" Rose Tyler in Shareen's body said with a giggle.

"You knew, didn't you?" the Doctor asked Jack.

"Yeah of course I did, Doc. I knew from the first time I saw Shareen after she woke up. She looked at you with the same love in her eyes that Rose always has in hers whenever she sees you. The biggest tip off was that Shareen didn't go for Koschei's throat the minute she saw him. She was actually being nice to him. That let me know for sure that my suspicions were right," Jack said.

"You're brilliant you are," Rose/Shareen said with a huge grin.

The Valeyard pulled out a hidden staser from under his clothing, but he was quickly floored by a solid punch to the jaw by Jack that left him knocked out cold on the ground. The Nightmare Child, fearful of what they might do to him, took the opportunity of this distraction to make a run for it. The Doctor quickly stopped him though by aiming his sonic screwdriver at him and bombarding him with enough pure concentrated sound to instantly knock him out.

The Doctor then turned off the gas that had been keeping Rose asleep and carefully opened the tube containing her body. Rose instantly reawakened, and she wrapped her arms tightly around the Doctor's neck as she gave him a passionate kiss.

Shareen was watching the two of them with a big grin on her face. Rose had entered her mind while she was asleep and had asked her permission to take her body over for a while which she had immediately granted. The Nightmare Child was unable to affect Rose because he kept attacking Shareen's psyche instead of Rose's. He was attacking the wrong mind.

"Why weren't you affected?" Shareen asked Jack curiously.

"I don't know. I guess because of what Rose did to me. People can't read my thoughts so the Doc figured that the Nightmare Child wouldn't be able to find out my greatest fear either. That's why he brought me along," Jack said.

Rose looked at Jack guiltily for a minute after he said this, but he smiled at her to show her that he had no hard feelings about it.

"What about you, Doc? Why weren't you affected?" Jack asked to break the awkward moment.

"The Nightmare Child couldn't affect me because I was already living my greatest fear. Losing Rose again is my greatest fear," the Doctor admitted with a lump in his throat.

"It's not going to ever happen again if I have anything to say about, Doctor," Rose said as she kissed him again.

All of them went back to their own universe; and the Valeyard and the Nightmare Child were soon imprisoned on Shada, the Time Lords' prison planet. The Nightmare Child was ironically put in the same tube that the Valeyard had imprisoned Rose in. It was constantly been pumped full of gas that would keep him asleep for all of eternity. The Doctor and Rose hoped that they were finally rid of the Valeyard this time, but it seemed that he would never be gone from their lives forever no matter what they did to him.

For now though, the two of them had some peace in their lives for once. They were determined to enjoy it while it lasted. Who knew what new menace might be headed their way next?

**Next: Rose and the Doctor decide to go off and have a little alone time together to celebrate their wedding anniversary. Nothing could possibly go wrong to spoil their special day, could it? Of course it could! This is Rose and the Doctor we're talking about her after all.**


	50. Chapter 50

CHAPTER 50

I do not own Doctor Who, and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews!**

It was a quiet, peaceful evening on the planet Vale Decem when a blue box materialized out of nowhere with a wheezing groaning sound. Vale Decem was a well-known vacation planet where people would stay for all kinds of special occasions. It was supposed to be the fanciest trendiest place to be in the universe. In other words, the elite of the universe would go there in order to be seen. Today, they were going to regret that decision.

The Doctor and Rose had decided to come to Vale Decem to celebrate their wedding anniversary. Their first wedding that is, the one where they had eloped and were married in the wild lands on Gallifrey. They had decided to come here to this hang out of the rich and famous in disguise and have a nice quiet regular anniversary celebration.

Like that was ever going to happen.

Rose had used her powers to put an illusion up around the two of them in order to disguise their appearance. She now appeared as a brunette, and the Doctor was a blonde. They were calling themselves Piper and Sydney Daciana. They had checked in to Room 11 oddly enough. Rose thought it was funny, but the Doctor bristled at the number for some reason that he wouldn't tell her about.

They quickly settled down to enjoy their planned week long stay. The two of them actually had a quiet and uneventful first day strangely enough. They enjoyed it immensely. It was the first time that they had had a nice normal day together for a long time. By the end of the first day though, as pleasant as it had been, the Doctor was bored out of his skull. He couldn't wait to be off and have another adventure. He had promised Rose that they would spend the week here though so he would. He silently hoped for something exciting to happen though. He was about to get his wish.

Another blue box appeared inside of the hotel in the hall near Room 11, and the Tenth Doctor and a human Rose Tyler stepped out of it.

"Where are we, Doctor? This doesn't look like Barcelona to me based on how you described it?" Rose asked.

"Yeahhh! About that, Rose," Ten said while rubbing the back of his neck.

"You took us to the wrong place again, didn't you? It happens every time when I want to go to Barcelona. Funny that," Rose said suspiciously.

"I'm not sure what you're implying, Rose. The TARDIS has a mind of her own. I can't always get her to take me where I want to go," Ten said with a worried look on his face.

"Yes, but do you really want to go there? That's the question, Doctor," Rose said with a slight smile on her face.

"Of course I do. I swear I'll take you to Barcelona someday. Right now we need to see where we are, and if there's anything here worth investigating," Ten said.

"You know there is. There always is everywhere we go, or the TARDIS wouldn't bring us there," Rose said knowingly.

"So you admit that the TARDIS brought us here?" Ten asked with a triumphant look on his face.

"No. I said that the TARDIS always brought us places for a reason. Somehow I doubt that the TARDIS brought us here," Rose said with a small smile.

"Why do you doubt me, Rose? When have I ever lied to you?" Ten asked with an innocent expression on his face.

"How about when you tricked me into getting into the TARDIS back on the Gamestation, and then sent me home? That's just off of the top of my head," Rose said with a widening grin on her face.

"You just keep bringing that up every chance you get. When are you going to let that go?" Ten asked with a sigh.

"Never!" Rose said with her smile covering her entire face now.

The Doctor pretended to look hurt by this, but his face quickly changed into a smile. He knew that Rose was just having fun with him. It was a little game that they played with each other sometimes.

The two of them broke out into laughter, and then they quickly got serious and started looking around at their surroundings. As they wandered by the door of Room Number 11, the present day Rose happened to come out of the door at just that moment. She paused in shock at the sight of the Tenth Doctor and her past self standing there right in front of her. It was a good thing that she had herself disguised she thought.

Then to her horror, her past self turned to look at her and asked, "Have you seen anything strange happening around here lately?"

"No, I can't say that I have," Present Rose said to her past self. Except for you, of course! she thought to herself.

"Well, thanks anyway," Past Rose said and smiled at her future self.

The two of them then moved on down the hall, still trying to see if there anything worth investigating in the area. Present Rose ran back into her room and stared at the Eleventh Doctor with an angry accusing glare.

"What? I didn't do anything," Eleven said with a confused look on his face.

"I just saw your last incarnation and my past self walking around in the hall out there. Didn't you check to see if we had ever been here before or not before we booked our anniversary here?" Present Rose said angrily to Eleven.

Eleven looked at her in concern. He didn't remember having come here before. He didn't remember this at all.

"I don't remember ever being here before. Do you remember being here?" Eleven asked.

"No. That's what's so shocking. I don't remember this place at all. Do you think our memories were erased somehow?" Rose asked.

"I hope not. I'm really getting tired of finding out that I have missing memories. It's a wonder my poor brain even works at all with all the things that I've been made to forget," the Doctor said with a groan.

Present Rose smiled at him in sympathy and gave him a quick peck on the lips. She had been responsible for some of those lost memories recently regarding the fate of Ace and felt a little guilty now.

"I'll look at your timeline. That'll settle if we've ever been here before," Present Rose said.

She traced backward quickly through his timeline until she reached the very beginning of his tenth incarnation. She found nothing to indicate that he had ever been here before until suddenly she saw his timeline changing right before her eyes. It was literally being rewritten as they stood there. She could see two different versions of the same day playing out before her. Now she knew what day that this was for their past selves.

"This is the day that nothing happened. It was that long boring day where we just wandered around aimlessly searching for something to fix or do, and we found nothing. We couldn't even get to Barcelona. It's not like you were really trying to get there anyway," Present Rose said.

"I was too. So that's where our past selves are from. They're from The Really Boring Day of Massive Boredom. You know that was the single most boring day of my life! I was so bored out of my mind that I almost considered going to Barcelona," Eleven said. He put his hand over his mouth as he realized what he had just said.

"Aha! I knew it!" Present Rose shouted at the top of her lungs.

"Alright, I admit it. I didn't want to go to Barcelona because I knew what you would do once you got there. I knew that my poor back would be put through the wringer from all of the shopping bags. I should have taken you though. I always regretted that after Canary Wharf among many other things," Eleven said with sad eyes.

Present Rose kissed him and said with a warm smile, "The past doesn't matter now. We're together right here, right now. That's what counts. Well, actually it does matter since it is being rewritten as we speak; but you know what I mean."

Eleven laughed at her as he said, "You're getting just as bad as me with the rambling. I'm corrupting you."

Present Rose's eyes widened with fear as she said, "I hope not. I don't want people to start tuning out while I talk."

"Did you ever do that?" Eleven asked accusingly.

"No. I never did that, but I've seen Amy do it to you," Present Rose lied.

"Yes, she's very bad about that," Eleven agreed.

Present Rose was inwardly laughing at him now.

"So now The Really Boring Day is being rewritten. Maybe that's a good thing," Eleven said with a hopeful look.

"It depends on what it's being rewritten into, and who's doing the rewriting," Present Rose said.

"You think that someone diverted our past selves here on purpose then?" Eleven asked.

"It seems like it. Why else would our past selves have come here today on the very day that our present selves are here? Someone must be doing this on purpose to taunt us. We're supposed to watch while time gets undone right before our eyes," Present Rose conjectured.

"That doesn't sound right to me. This seems more like some kind of accident," Eleven said.

"How could it be an accident?" Present Rose asked.

"I don't know, but it just doesn't feel like an evil plot to me. When you've been embroiled in as many evil plots as I have over the centuries, you get to know when you've suddenly been plunged into one. They have a certain feel to them. This doesn't feel anything like that," Eleven said thoughtfully.

"I hope that you're right," Present Rose said. She remained unconvinced of it though.

Screams started permeating the hotel the very next minute, and Eleven and Present Rose went to their window to see their past selves fighting with Reapers. Things were getting worse and worse by the moment it seemed.

"They've been brought out because of time being rewritten. They've come to fix it," Eleven realized.

Present Rose teleported herself and Eleven down to where their past selves were just in time to see Past Rose swallowed by a Reaper! Eleven turned to look at Present Rose in concern; but so far, she hadn't vanished yet. He did notice that she was in full out Bad Wolf mode though.

"I'm keeping myself here but just barely. It's taking every bit of power I have to keep myself from being erased," Present Rose admitted as he continued to give her worried looks.

Ten kept staring off into space at where Past Rose had last been before she had been swallowed like he was dead inside. His mouth was opening and closing like he wanted to scream, but he couldn't make any sounds.

At this moment, the Reapers were suddenly brought to a stop as Rose and the Doctor's daughter, Cassie, suddenly appeared. She gestured at them as if giving them silent commands, and they all instantly disappeared. This version of Cassie was noticeably younger than the one that they had been used to seeing.

"Cassie, what is going on here? Are you responsible for this?" Eleven asked enraged.

"That's right. Always accuse me first. Never ever blame anyone else. It always has to be my fault just because I get into trouble a lot," Cassie grumbled.

"I'm sorry for jumping to conclusions. If it's not you, then who is it?" Eleven said in an apologetic tone.

"Over there," Cassie said as she pointed to a young boy who looked to be about ten years old, who was glowing with crimson energy.

Present Rose knew who this must be. Jenny had just revealed his future existence to her by accident recently.

She walked over to him and asked, "Pete?"

"I'm so sorry, Mum! I just wanted to do something special for Dad. He was always going on about how terrible The Really Boring Day was so I thought that I could change that day for him by bringing the TARDIS here instead. I remember that you told me once what a great time that the two of you had on one of your wedding anniversaries here once. Somehow I accidently brought your past selves right to the day that the wedding anniversary versions of you were here. Now, I've gotten your past self killed. I never meant for any of this to happen! I was just trying to do something nice for Dad. I thought that he would appreciate it if I undid that terrible day for him," Pete said in tears.

Present Rose immediately embraced him tightly. Pete looked at her in complete confusion.

"I thought that you would be angry at me. You're usually yelling at me when I do things like this," Pete said.

"Oh, I'm furious with you! I don't want my first meeting with you to be one of anger though," Present Rose said as she continued to hug him.

"First meeting?" Pete asked as he looked more and more distraught.

"Look what you did. You're talking to the version of her that actually was here on the anniversary. You've messed things up even more," Cassie said as she wagged her finger at him.

"It's okay. I've already met an older version of your sister, Sarah; and Jenny already blurted out that you existed to me just a few days ago. The spoilers are already out of the bag," Present Rose said with a comforting smile to Pete.

"Not to me, they're not. This is my son?" Eleven said from behind her.

"Yes or at least he will be. Meet Pete, Doctor," Present Rose said.

"I'm sorry, Dad!" Pete said with such a guilty look on his face that the Doctor's hearts melted instantly.

"It's okay. We'll fix all of this somehow," Eleven said in a comforting tone. He had no idea how to do that though.

That was when a future version of Jenny appeared and looked at her brother and sister with a very angry look on her face. She looked like she wanted to disintegrate both of them on the spot.

"I told you to watch him! You know how he gets into trouble if you don't watch him every single second," Jenny yelled at Cassie.

"I'm sorry, okay! I had gotten a phone call from Anthony, and we started talking about things. We got all involved with thinking about the future. I guess I just lost track of him for a minute," Cassie said.

"I'm going to really let you have it when we get home," Jenny said furious.

"What else is new?" Cassie said with his eyes rolling.

That's when Cassie was totally taken by surprise by Jenny suddenly hugging her and Pete at the same time.

"I'm just glad that the two of you are okay. At least he didn't cause too big a mess," Jenny said.

"What are you talking about? His meddling with the time stream brought out the Reapers and Past Rose was swallowed by them!" Eleven said enraged.

"Yes, but it's not so bad that I can't fix it," Jenny said to him with a wink.

She glowed brighter and brighter until they could barely see her. Then Past Rose suddenly reappeared, and Ten immediately wrapped his arms around her crying.

"Was I just eaten by a Reaper?" Past Rose asked in shock.

"Yeah, but it's been fixed somehow," Ten said.

"How? They were everywhere a minute ago," Past Rose asked.

"I don't care as long as you're back. That's all that matters," Ten said with relief.

Jenny smiled at them. She was deliberately masking her presence and that of the rest of her family from the two of them. They had no idea what was going on; and the Doctor, for once, didn't seem to care.

Jenny waved her hand, and the two of them and their TARDIS were returned to their proper places in the time stream. She then erased their visit here from their timeline. The whole event had now never happened at all. The only ones who would remember it would be her, her brother and sister, and the versions of her parents that were standing here with her.

"See? It's all fixed," Jenny said happily.

The Doctor shook his head at her. She would become more powerful than he thought in the future, and this was even before she had even reached her full level of power yet judging by her appearance!

Rose looked at their timelines and saw that everything was now as it should be. She sighed inwardly with relief.

"Well, I guess I'll take these guys home, and your future selves can ground them for the next year or whatever. See you later, Mum and Dad!" Jenny said as she prepared to take herself and her brother and sister back into the future.

"Wait!" Rose called.

She ran forward and hugged Pete again. She knew that she probably wouldn't see him again for a long time because he looked several years younger than Cassie. Then again, knowing her family, maybe it would be next week!

The three kids from the future then vanished in a white burst of energy and returned home. Rose and the Doctor just stood there for a moment and stared at each other in a daze. Then they both burst out laughing.

"One thing's for sure, Doctor, with children like that in our future you're never going to have a boring day ever again!" Rose said to him with a huge grin.

**Next: A visit to the past as Rose tells her companions a story about Arkytior and Koschei back in their academy days. **


	51. Chapter 51

CHAPTER 51

I do not own Doctor Who, and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews!**

Rose had just come back to her TARDIS from her anniversary celebration on Vale Decem, which after that little incident with Pete had gone very well actually, to find Penny and Shareen making fun of Koschei. She knew that they didn't get along with him well when they had had to work together recently so it didn't totally surprise her to hear their insults. She still didn't like it though. Koschei had done many terrible things, but they weren't entirely his fault. It was because of Rassilon messing with his mind by placing the sound of drums in his head and driving him slowly insane his whole life with them.

Besides that, Koschei was her friend; and he had been there for her many times back on Gallifrey when she had needed someone and vice versa. She couldn't stand for anyone, even her closest friends, to get away with saying anything bad about him.

Rose didn't mean to but she found herself glaring at Penny and Shareen as they continued to share insults about Koschei. Eventually the two of them noticed her eyes burning into the backs of their heads and turned to look at her with shame on their faces.

"I'm sorry, Rose! I forgot that he's your friend. I shouldn't have been talking about him. I apologize. It's just that that guy really got under my skin with his arrogant behavior and his condescending attitude. With all due respect, I can't figure out why you like him," Shareen said honestly.

Penny looked at her with a pointed look on her face as if Shareen shouldn't have said that.

"What?! I've always been honest with Rose about everything. Why stop now?" Shareen said with an irritated look on her face.

"I don't have anything bad to say about him myself. He didn't say anything to me," Emma said.

"He had plenty to say to me. He kept talking about how much of a whiny brat I was. I ask you, am I a brat? Well, am I?!" Penny whined.

"No, of course you're not, Penny. I have no idea where he got that from," Emma said with an evil smile.

"Is that you being sarcastic, oh kind and loving grandmother? Way to build up my self-image. I'm going to have self-confidence problems now thanks to you," Penny joked.

"Yes, I'm sure that my comments will scar you for the rest of your life. I'm sure that we'll all get to hear all about them and how much they've affected you for the next couple of years at least, over and over again," Emma said smiling.

"Is that you cleverly saying that I actually am a whiny brat without actually saying it?" Penny accused with a fake tone of anger in her voice.

"No, never! I would never say such a thing. You're a wonderful, well behaved, and extremely quiet grandchild," Emma said as she put a hand over her mouth to keep from bursting out laughing.

"Now I know you're being sarcastic!" Penny said with a huge grin as she gave her grandmother a quick loving hug.

"Well, you're lucky that he just called you a whiny brat! He just kept taunting me over and over again for being a Dalek. Now that I'm human again, I would love to meet up with him and see the look on his smug little face when he sees the new me," Oswin said with a hidden trace of bitterness in her tone.

"I have to admit that I felt animosity towards the man too even though he didn't say anything against me personally. I didn't like his manner or the way that he spoke to us," Gwyneth said.

Then her eyes widened as she realized that she had just said something bad about one of Rose's friends. That was a major offense in her time. You never talked badly about your employer or about their friends or relations. Servants were supposed to be humble and obedient.

"You're not my servant, Gwyneth. You never were and I suspect, unless I have a major personality change in the future, that you never will be. You're my friend, and my friends can say whatever they want around me. That doesn't mean that I have to like it though," Rose said as she used her uncanny ability to read body language to know what Gwyneth had been thinking.

"I'm sorry. I'm not being a very good friend then, Miss Rose, to speak badly about one of your other friends," Gwyneth said with her eyes cast down.

"Please stop calling me Miss Rose. My name is Rose, Gwyneth. Just Rose. I understand why everyone is saying things about Koschei. I really do. I thought badly of him too when I was still human and didn't remember who I used to be. None of you know him like I do though. I remember the way that he was when we were young back at the Academy. Let me tell you a story about him, and we'll see if you still think as badly of him afterwards," Rose said.

**Gallifrey, Hundreds of Years Ago (When Arkytior was a Child)**

Arkytior was sitting alone in the Academy library when a spit ball flew into her hair and then two more in rapid succession. She glared angrily in the direction that they came from. She wasn't surprised to see that they had come from Magnus, who was acting nonchalantly when she glanced his way as if he had no clue why she was looking at him. Arkytior decided to just pull the spitballs out of her hair and ignore him.

Koschei though was less forgiving. He glared at Magnus and said, "Apologize to her right now!"

"Apologize for what?"

"You know what. Apologize now!" Koschei demanded in a loud voice.

"Koschei, it's not worth it! Let it go!" Arkytior said as she put a hand on his shoulder.

Koschei instantly calmed down and turned around to walk away. Arkytior had instantly calmed him down and averted a potential crisis as she usually did with him.

The instructors at the Academy had long ago learned that if they ever had a problem with Koschei to talk to Arkytior about it. She would then proceed to quickly solve the problem with just a few words or a single look on her face.

Everyone knew by now that Koschei was devoted to Arkytior and would do whatever she asked of him without question. No one knew quite why but many suspected that it was because he was in love with her. That was not the truth though. Koschei did love her but not in that way. He loved her like a sister. He felt like she was the only person that he could really talk to and like she was the only one who really cared about him. She was quite simply the one person who he felt understood him better than anyone else even Theta.

"Don't rise to the bait like that anymore, Koschei. It's what he wants you to do. He would love to get you thrown out of here," Arkytior warned him.

"I know that, but I can't stand to see him treat you that way. It's not right. You don't deserve it. You're worth a billion of him!" Koschei said angrily.

Arkytior smiled gently at him as she said, "I'm glad that you think so. I wish everyone else shared in your high opinion of me. Most people here seem to think like Magnus does. The only friends that I have are you, Theta, and Cliodna. No one else can stand me. Mum says that it's because they're jealous. Jealous of what I don't know."

"They're jealous because they secretly wish that they were half as intelligent, kind, and decent as you are," Koschei said honestly.

Arkytior laughed as she shook her head. She didn't believe a word of it, but she knew that he did. She never had understood why he liked her so much, but she was glad that he did. Without him around, her life would have been that much lonelier.

Later on with all of her classes over for the day, Arkytior hurried back to her room to finish her project for temporal physics. She was attempting to use mirrors to bounce chronons, the particles which make up time, off of an object in order to send it on a one-way time jump back into the recent past or into the near future. So far she had been unsuccessful, but she hoped that she was about to make a major breakthrough. She just knew that she would be able to get it to work soon if she practiced with it long enough and got all of the kinks out of it. Her entire grade for the class depended on getting this experiment to work so it was really important to her that she succeed. It was too late for her to start over with a new experiment now.

When she came to the door of her room, she was horrified to find that it had been broken into by someone. It was hanging wide open. She walked into the room warily and terrified at what she might be about to find.

Her jaw dropped, and her eyes widened in shock at the sight before her. She screamed with anger as she saw that all of the mirrors in her experiment had been shattered into a thousand pieces, and all of her equipment had been broken beyond repair.

Koschei had happened to be nearby and heard Arkytior's yell of anguish. He immediately came running to her room with fears of something having happened to her quickly passing through his mind. As he came to the doorway and saw all of the destruction that had been done to Arkytior's experiment, he was filled with anger like he had never experienced before in his life. He knew that Arkytior had worked hard on that experiment and had been deeply worried about its success for several weeks now.

Magnus! He thought to himself. He raced off to find and pulverize the arrogant boy for daring to do this to his friend.

Arkytior had already beaten him to it though. She had already left before Koschei had gotten to her room and had cornered Magnus in his room. She stared in speechless fury at him for a moment, and the boy just laughed at her.

"Something wrong, Arkytior? You look like you've just been shattered beyond repair," Magnus joked.

"I knew it! It was you. Why? Why did you do that? What have I ever done to you?" Arkytior said to him in a cold tone.

"Your experiment was better than mine. It was going to win, and I would have been second place. I couldn't have that. I have to win first place and get the top grade in the class, or my father won't let me be the head of my house in the future. I won't lose the power and influence that that would give me, especially not to a little nothing like you. You have to learn to know your place. You will soon learn to bow before my superior intellect. You may be smarter in the class, but I'm far cleverer than you. You'll never be able to reproduce your experiment in time now, and you'll never be able to prove that I did anything to it. I win, and you lose! Now go on back to your room and get out of my face!" Magnus said with a smug look of triumph on his face.

Something snapped in Arkytior in that moment and awakened the Wolf. Golden energy flowed out of her and everything in Magnus' room including his experiment was incinerated in a sudden burst of golden energy. Magnus himself had been instantly knocked out cold by the energy before he even knew what or who had hit him. He was otherwise unharmed though because, even at her angriest, Arkytior was not a cold-blooded killer.

Arkytior teleported back to her room, and her experiment and her door were instantly reassembled to the state that they had been in before with a wave of her hand. Then, with the full impact of what she had done finally hitting her, she broke down and burst into tears. She was shaking with terror over the idea that she would surely be caught now and everyone would know that she had this strange power that she couldn't fully control.

She didn't know that Koschei had watched what she had done and had seen her teleport away. Then he quickly ran back to her room to find her inside a now fully restored room crying and shaking with fear.

She looked at Koschei in terror as she realized that he knew. He knew what she could do, and he knew what she had just done to Magnus.

"Don't worry, Ari. No one will find out that you had anything to do with it. I promise! No one's going to ever find out your secret from me either," Koschei said as he hugged her tightly and kissed her forehead.

He stayed with her until she was calmed down and fully reassured that he didn't think any less of her or fear her after finding out about her powers. He promised her once again that no one would find out about her powers from him, and then he left to deal with the situation that she had created.

Arkytior found out a few hours later that Koschei had confessed to blowing up Magnus' room by accident with one of his experiments. Everyone believed him even Magnus because their enmity towards each other was well known. Koschei was suspended for several weeks and was generally scorned by the entire school. Luckily for him, Cliodna managed to use her family's connections to keep him from getting kicked out completely. He seemed to enjoy the whole experience though. He just kept smiling through the whole thing. It was the true beginning of his reputation as a bad boy and of his life-long adversarial relationship with Magnus, who never forgave him for it. He had suffered a severe blow to his reputation and dignity, and it had all been done to protect her.

Magnus never even asked why Arkytior's experiment was suddenly back together in one piece again. Arkytior suspected that she may have erased his knowledge of having destroyed it from his mind without realizing it while she was using her powers.

After that day, Arkytior would always defend him ferociously whenever anyone put him down in her presence. She would never be able to stand for anyone to say anything bad about him again.

**Present Day **

All of Rose's companions looked at her in complete disbelief that she was talking about the same man that they had met earlier. This didn't sound like the person who had spent the entire time that they were around him insulting and demeaning them as much as he could.

"What happened to him? Why did he change?" Shareen asked.

"I died, or at least, everyone thought that I did. I was the only one who believed him when he told me about the drums that he could constantly hear in his head. Without me there to convince him that he wasn't insane and to give him moral support, he began to fall into a deep pit of anger and despair that he couldn't get back out of. That was when the Master was born. He's only just now beginning to become more like the person that I used to know back then. Believe it or not, what you experienced with Koschei was him being nice to you! At least, his version of being nice anyway," Rose said.

"Okay, maybe I'll go a little easier on the guy if I ever meet him again, but I still don't like being treated like a piece of dirt under his shoe," Shareen said.

"I don't like being characterized as a petulant child either, but I guess I'll cut him a little slack too the next time that I see him," Penny said.

"I guess I'll let the whole making fun of me for being a Dalek thing go, for now anyway," Oswin said.

"There are so many layers and secrets to your past that you never tell anyone about, aren't there?" Gwyneth asked her.

"I don't mean to keep secrets from the people that I care about. It's just that there are certain things from my past that are still painful for me to talk about," Rose admitted.

Shareen put her arm around Rose and said, "I just want you to know that you can always talk to me about anything, Rose. I'll always be here for you."

"That goes for all of us too," Penny said, and the others all nodded their heads in agreement.

Rose couldn't help but smile in appreciation of her friends. She was so glad that she could now say that she had plenty of good friends, and that she could count these women around her among them. She was no longer that unhappy little girl that she used to be anymore, and she knew that she owed that and all of her future happiness in some part to Koschei. She would never let herself forget that either.

**Next: Speaking of secrets, Penny finally meets Captain Jack's son, who was recently seen in Jenny's title. She has some serious questions for him and Jack about who his mother is. She's going to get answers one way or another even if she has to pound them out of Jack personally!**


	52. Chapter 52

CHAPTER 52

I do not own Doctor Who, and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews!**

Penny and Jack were just coming back to Penny's apartment after a very successful date when they were met at Penny's door by a man with a Vortex Manipulator on his arm suddenly appearing out of nowhere. The man immediately ran up to Jack and said, "I'm glad that I finally found you, Dad. You've got to come with me."

"Dad? Did you just call him Dad?" Penny asked the man in complete shock and astonishment.

The mysterious man immediately recognized Penny, but he pretended not to know her for the sake of preserving the timeline. He said, "Yes, he's my father. Or at least he will. I've come way too early in his timeline though. He doesn't even know me yet. I'll just be going before I let anything slip that might change the future."

The man hurried to use his manipulator to get him out of there, but he was much too slow. It was too late to leave now anyway. He had awakened the sleeping beast of jealousy inside Penny and now he would have to pay along with his father.

Penny grabbed him painfully by the wrist and began to crush it in her hand before he could leave. She gave him the stare of death as she began to demand answers from him immediately.

"What is your name and more to the point, who is your mother?" Penny demanded furious.

"I'm John Harkness. I can't tell you who my mother is because then I might change my own timeline and make it so I'm never born," John told her.

He was trying not to cry out from the pain that he was feeling as Penny steadily increased the pressure on his wrist. She always could manage to bring his ego crashing back down to Earth no matter how strong and invincible that he thought that he was. Whenever she reprimanded him like she was doing now, he was just like a little boy once again.

"Oh, you'll tell me alright. You'll tell me everything that you know right now," Penny shouted at him.

"Leave the kid alone, Penny. He's right. If he's from my personal future, then he can't tell you anything about it around me. He might cease to exist on the spot," Jack said.

"Don't try to use temporal mumbo jumbo to talk me out of being angry. I have a right to be mad," Penny said.

"Why? He probably comes from the far future, Penny. I told you that I'm immortal. He could be from way in my own personal future, and his mother could be anyone. I hate to say this, but she could be from a time where you've been gone a long time, Penny," Jack said.

Penny looked closely at him as if to see if she could see the truth in his face and in his eyes. She studied him for several minutes as the three of them stood there in an uncomfortable silence.

"I believe you. I'm so sorry, Jack. It's just that I can't bear the thought of you having a child with anyone else but me," Penny blurted out finally.

She put her hand to her mouth in shock at what she had just said. She hadn't even realized that that was how that she had felt until she had said it.

Jack was smiling at her now as he realized just how much that she really loved him and for the first time, he realized how much he really loved her. He never wanted to see that look of pain and fear in her eyes ever again and certainly not because of him.

"Is that a proposal?" Jack said with a sly smile on his face.

Penny was blushing fiercely as she said, "I believe that it is. It's not exactly the way that I would have preferred to do this though. I mean you're supposed to propose to me first."

Jack walked up to her and kissed her passionately for several minutes. Then he pulled away leaving her standing there with a huge smile on her face.

"Ok, If you insist on it, then that's what I'll do," Jack said finally after a moment more.

He got down on one knee and pulled a ring box out of his pocket. Penny's eyes bulged as she saw it. She couldn't believe that this was real!

"You've already planned this," Penny said in shock.

"I've wanted to do this for quite some time now. I just haven't been able to work up the courage. Also, I wasn't sure exactly sure just how you felt about me," Jack admitted.

Penny looked at him like he was insane and said, "I don't see how you couldn't know. It's not like I've been keeping it a secret."

"Yeah but I wanted to be sure, Penny. I had to be sure that we were on the same page," Jack said honestly.

"We've been on the same page since the day that I met you, Jack Harkness," Penny said with a smile of pure happiness on her face.

"You mean in that bar? You've known how you felt about me since then?" Jack asked in disbelief.

"Oh, yeah! I liked you from the moment that I met you. I just wasn't sure how you felt about me," Penny admitted.

We're quite some pair, aren't we? Both of us too terrified to ask each other how we really felt about each other," Jack said laughing.

"Uh, could you let me go now?" John said in a pain filled voice from beside Penny.

Penny looked at him absent mindedly and realized that she was still holding onto his wrist very tightly. She quickly let go of it and smiled at him apologetically.

"I'm so sorry! Is it okay?" Penny asked him.

John rubbed it some and said sheepishly, "It will be. It may be very sore for a couple of days though."

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that. Please accept my apology," Penny said.

"Yeah, sure! It's no big deal. I'll be fine," John said with a reassuring smile on his face.

Then he surprised Penny by suddenly hugging her tightly. He held onto her for a moment and then slowly let her go. Penny looked at him with a questioning look.

"I know you very well in the future, Penny. I can't tell you any more than that though. I shouldn't have even told you that," John admitted.

"It's okay. I don't think that you said too much or else you wouldn't still be here, would you?" Penny said with a warm smile.

"I suppose not. I guess I'll be going then. I need to find the right version of Dad to help me with the problem that I have," John said.

"Are you sure that I can't help?" Jack asked concerned.

"No I think that it's best that you don't know much about me yet. It might change things too much," John said.

Jack nodded in understanding and said with a sly smile, "Well, I guess I'll see you around then."

"Oh, yeah! You won't be able to miss me. I'll be the one crying and screaming," John quipped.

Both of them hugged each other and John said, "You'll see me later, Dad; and I'll be seeing future you in about five minutes hopefully."

John manipulated the controls on his Vortex Manipulator and was gone in a flash. Jack and Penny stared at the spot for a moment and felt that maybe something special had just happened. They weren't sure why they felt that way, but they did.

Then the two of them focused their attention back to the question at hand. Jack got back on his knees and showed Penny the ring again.

"Penny Miller, will you marry me?" Jack asked her with a huge smile on his face.

"Yes, Jack. Yes!" Penny said as she laughed with joy.

John Harkness finally met up with a future version of his father that was from the right timeline. The two of them then solved the problem of a Cyberman invasion of Cardiff in the future that John hadn't quite been able to handle by himself.

Afterwards, Jack asked John, "I assume that you didn't tell her too much then when you saw her."

"You should know. You were there," John said with a laugh.

"I know, but that was a long time ago for me. I can't quite remember what happened. Obviously you didn't say too much though, or you wouldn't still be here," Jack said.

"I didn't really say anything except that I was from the future, and I hadn't been born yet," John admitted.

"That was risky. Why didn't you go with the born in the 1800s story that I told you to tell people? That sets everything in my past, and there's no way for anyone to confirm or disprove it especially when you use that phony Jeremiah Harkness name," Jack said.

"I couldn't lie to her, Dad. I just couldn't," John said with his eyes on the ground.

"It's okay, Will. I can understand. You love her too much to lie to her. You never could lie to her. You could always lie to everyone else but never to your mother," Jack said with a proud look on his face.

"Don't call me Will, Dad. I prefer John. It's closer to your name," John said.

"Yeah but I prefer Will because Penny named you after her father. It was very sentimental for her," Jack said.

"She hasn't changed much. She's just as tough in the past as she is now. She actually hurt my wrist," John said, still rubbing it.

"Yeah, that part I remember. She had you almost crying out in pain!" Jack said laughing.

"Mom's one tough woman no matter what time period she's in," John agreed with a smile.

"That she is. We'd better go meet up with her for dinner right now, or you'll be feeling that pain in your wrist again real soon," Jack said with a wink.

The two of them laughed with each other, and then they both ran back to their house as fast as their legs could take them. Jack hadn't been lying about Penny possibly hurting them if they didn't show up on time after all. It was best not to risk that!

**Next: Rose returns to this title as she accidently discovers that an enemy that she thought was dead is somehow still alive but has no memory of who they really are. What will she do about them? Plus Penny tells Rose and Emma about her engagement.**


	53. Chapter 53

CHAPTER 53

I do not own Doctor Who, and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews!**

My name is Rose Tyler. Okay if you want to get technical, my name is Arkytior. It isn't the name that I call myself by though. I call myself Rose. That's who I am in my heart of hearts. I think sometimes that I was always Rose Tyler even back on Gallifrey I just didn't know it yet. Rose is who I would have been anyway if not for the Bad Wolf radically changing my life. I was always a renegade at heart even when I didn't act like one. You can't marry a man like the Doctor and not be wild in some way or another.

Enough about me though. I know that I'm not that interesting. Then again if you're reading this title about me, then you must think that I am. I don't make a big deal about myself though, and I never have. I'm just Rose for better or worse. Take me or leave me as I am. I'll just tell you this story from my life instead and hope that you'll like it.

I had been feeling funny lately as if something was wrong even though I couldn't tell just what that something was exactly. I had been having this strange feeling ever since the end of my fight with the Vortex Daleks. I felt that there was something that I was overlooking or missing in some way about that whole thing. I had no idea what that could be though.

Then one day when I was asleep in my TARDIS, I felt another person touching my mind even while I was dreaming. I could feel them there just out of my reach, and they felt just like me. It was the same feeling that I had always had around the Pythia, my alternate universe self. The Pythia was dead though and all of Davros' clones of her were as well.

After a feeling like that, I had to find out for sure whether she was really gone or not. I had to convince myself that there was no trace of her left anywhere on Earth before I would rest easy. I reached out and used my Bad Wolf powers to search for her throughout the entire planet.

Even after all of this time since I had started using these powers on a regular basis, I still felt weird using them. It still made me uneasy somehow. It just didn't feel like me at all. To be honest, Arkytior still didn't feel like me either sometimes. I sometimes felt like a very human Rose who had suddenly had a lot of extra parts added onto her life and had to try to make sense of them somehow. At other times, I loved who I had become; and I felt like everything and every part of me made perfect sense and fit into one big picture that was the story of my life instead.

It's hard for me to process all of the changes in myself even now. I just know that there are plenty of times that I wish that I was just simple Rose Tyler again. I'm almost tempted to use the Chameleon Arch on myself sometimes. The reason I don't is because I'm not sure if I'd stay me or not, and I'm not sure of how the Doctor would react. I never want him to leave me behind ever again because I'm just an ordinary human being with an ordinary life span. If I have to stay Arkytior and the Bad Wolf forever to keep the Doctor, then that is a price that I will willingly pay.

To get back to the story, I used my powers to search for any trace of the Pythia or her clones on Earth. I was shocked when I suddenly found someone who was very similar to the Pythia but a little bit different at the same time. The feel of this person's mind was close enough to make me want to find out more about them anyway. I teleported to their location right away and found myself at Daisy Pythia's house. She was the fake ID that the Pythia had used when she had been human.

I turned invisible and entered the house. I soon found a woman who looked just like me sitting in the chair watching soap operas. She seemed to like the same ones that I did. She was obviously enjoying them from the wide grin that was all over her face. I started to smile too. She was just having an ordinary day just like the ones that I used to have before I met the Doctor. There was nothing sinister going on here that I could tell.

I traced her timeline backwards and found out the truth about her. She was one of the clones that Davros had made of the Pythia. She had escaped being destroyed by a Dalek computer error. She was the only one who had survived. She managed to get out of Davros' secret base, and then wandered around outside of it with no memory of who she was until she broke into a Dalek ship. To her own surprise, she managed to figure out how to fly it back to Earth all by herself. I was pretty smart even as a human after all, and I figured out new technologies very quickly. My other self must have been the same way.

She came back to Earth and hid the Dalek ship where she had hoped that no one would ever find it. I could see Jack and Torchwood finding it later though but having no clue who had brought it there or why. She then started to remember bits and pieces about Daisy Pythia's life from the Pythia's memories.

She stepped right back into Daisy's life by claiming that she was her sister from back home who had come to investigate Daisy's sudden disappearance, which would explain why she had a different face from Daisy's but had a personality just like hers. She called herself Iris Pythia and had quickly decided to take her 'sister' Daisy's place in her absence while she pretended to look for her. Daisy's old roommate and the Pythia's daughter with a new personality and wiped memories, Cathy, bought this story and took Daisy's 'sister' in as her new roommate just like she had Daisy before her. This was due to the Chameleon Arch's influence on her mind.

After she had been Iris long enough, she had completely forgotten her memories of ever having traveled in space or having been on another planet at all. She managed to convince herself that she was and always had been just plain old Iris Pythia. She quickly settled back into Daisy's old life without a hitch and had been perfectly happy living the life of an ordinary human ever since.

I quietly looked through her mind and couldn't find a trace of the Pythia in there or any of her memories either. Even her memories of knowing about other worlds and alien technology had just disappeared completely now and been quietly suppressed. All that was left of her to tell that she had ever been anything but a human being was her Time Lord body.

I had a decision to make. What should I do about her? Should I destroy her, or should I leave her here the way that she was now? I wasn't sure what to do. The Doctor had left the original Pythia in this life once before, and she had come back to haunt us later on. On the other hand, I couldn't bring myself to want to do anything to hurt this smiling woman who was just sitting here watching her soaps before me.

I thought about it for a long timem and then I finally came to a decision. I let the part of me that was Rose decide what to do with her. Once I decided that, the rest was easy. Rose Tyler always did follow her heart.

I used my powers to complete change her into a human being with no trace of anything Time Lord left in her. I also removed all of her memories of anything having to do with the Pythia or other worlds. She was now just ordinary Iris Pythia with an ordinary human lifespan plus an extra couple of years that I added on for good measure.

She had never even felt anything happening to her. She was still watching TV and completely clueless about the sudden change that she had just experienced. That was a good thing though. I never wanted her to remember anything about her previous life ever again.

I took one last look at her and smiled. I hoped that she was as happy as she seemed in her new life and that she would enjoy it.

As I teleported back to my TARDIS, I knew that the clone's life was not the kind of life that I wanted to lead and never had been. I simply had wanted to return to the old days when I was just Rose and didn't have to worry about Vortex powers and cosmic enemies with insane powers constantly trying to kill me. That part of me prefers fighting Daleks and Cybermen with nothing more than a sonic screwdriver any day. That part of me is probably just crazy in a good way I guess.

As I returned home, I heard talking outside of my room and went outside to investigate. I found Penny talking excitedly to Emma about something. I hated to eavesdrop, but I just had to know what was going on.

"He asked me to marry him, Emma," Penny was saying.

"What did you say?" Emma said with a look of joy on her face.

"I said yes!" Penny said with a huge smile.

Emma and I both screamed at the same moment, and Penny looked at me in surprise. She had had no idea that I was there.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to eavesdrop. I just heard you talking about something in a happier voice than I had ever heard you use before, and I had to hear about it," I apologized.

"It's okay. I was going to tell you anyway because you're like family to me. You're more than my friend, Rose. You're more like my sister," Penny said with a huge smile.

The two of us embraced each other then, and Emma joined in. We were all so happy about this incredible news. I know that Emma in particular had wanted this to happen for Penny for a long time now ever since she and Jack had gotten serious about things.

I was happy for her as well and for Jack. I hoped that this would help him get over the destruction of his Torchwood team and headquarters. Maybe it would even inspire him to rebuild and start over again. The probabilities of that occurring seemed to be more and more likely now from what I could see of the possibilities of his future.

I already saw little John coming in Penny's future soon enough if things kept proceeding as they were now. I already knew about him long before Jenny told me about him. It's another reason I sometimes miss Old Rose. I hate knowing the future sometimes. I'd rather be surprised like everyone else I think.

I've come to accept my new role in life though, and I use it to help others the best that I can. If I am unhappy sometimes in this new existence, it's a small price to pay to get to be with the Doctor again that's for sure. If I had the chance to be just Rose again though, I'm not so sure that I wouldn't take it.

Anyway, I'm sure that you've heard enough of my thoughts. This story has come to an end, and I hope that you enjoyed it. Maybe I'll come back some other time to narrate something again. Until then, I'll see all of you around.

**Next: Rose should have been careful what she was wishing for because in the next chapter she just might get it and at the worst possible time too. **

Oi! What's that supposed to mean?

**You'll find out, Rose. (Evil laughter heard in the background.)**


	54. Chapter 54

CHAPTER 54

I do not own Doctor Who, and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews!**

Rose had been traveling through the Vortex in her TARDIS along with Penny, Emma, Shareen, and Gwyneth on the way to take Penny shopping for a wedding dress when she heard a distress signal coming from Barcelona. Apparently someone was attacking Barcelona . . . again!

At least they can't blame it on me this time. I'm not even there yet. Rose thought to herself.

Rose arrived on Barcelona to find the whole planet being attacked by Daleks! Rose was not expecting that at all.

Since when did Daleks care about department stores? Rose asked herself.

The Dalek nearest her swiveled its eye stalk around to look at her and shouted, "ROSE TYLER HAS BEEN LOCATED. THE MISSION TO ATTRACT HER ATTENTION HAS PROVEN SUCCESSFUL. UNLEASH THE DEVOLUTION DEVICE."

A number of Daleks suddenly appeared with their suction arms attached to a massive cannon like device, and they fired it at Rose instantly. Rose put up a force field around herself just before the beam from the cannon hit her. The Daleks fired the cannon yet again, but this time Rose deflected the beam back at the cannon and destroyed it instantly.

"ATTEMPT TO NEUTRALIZE BAD WOLF HAS PROVEN UNSUCCESSFUL. COMMENCE STRATEGIC WITHDRAWAL," one of the Daleks said.

The Daleks all quickly initiated an emergency temporal shift and left before Rose could go on the attack against them. She was left to stand there amid the damage that the Daleks had done in confusion. She had no idea what that had all been about, but their use of the word devolution bothered her. She unconsciously fixed the damage done to the area with a wave of her hand as she walked along lost in thought. She didn't even realize that she had done it.

Shareen saw this and smiled. It was just in Rose's nature to help people. She always did it automatically without thinking about it. It was one of the things that she had always admired about her friend.

"Again you bring trouble to Barcelona, Rose Tyler. Those Daleks only attacked because they knew that you liked coming here and that doing so would attract your attention. You've made our whole planet a target by your constant presence here," the President of Barcelona, I. Gypsem Good, said in a fury.

Rose was so lost in thought about what the Daleks had been up to that she didn't even notice that he was there. Shareen decided to speak up for her.

"I noticed you didn't mind taking her money all of those times she came her though. If she was so dangerous to this place, why did you keep allowing her to come back?" Shareen said.

"Yes, we appreciated her constant business here; but that's all in the past now. We cannot allow her to continue to endanger our safety. As of this moment, Rose Tyler is banned from Barcelona. She is never to return here again unless asked," I. Gypsem Good said firmly.

"There's gratitude for you. We don't want to shop on your crummy planet anyway. You're just a bunch of rip off artists with your overpriced, cheap junk anyhow," Shareen said.

"How dare you?!" I. Gypsem Good bellowed.

"How dare you, sir? How dare you?!" Shareen shouted back.

Penny quickly had to get in between the two of them as it seemed as if they were going to get into a fight any minute now. She knew that Shareen would probably lay the irate man out with one punch so she wasn't worried about her. She just didn't feel like having the entire planet of Barcelona chasing after her afterwards for retribution. She'd had enough of entire planets out to get her, thank you very much! It seemed to happen a lot when you traveled with Rose.

Penny started dragging a still fighting mad Shareen away from I. Gypsem Good as she said, "Don't worry. We're leaving. You'll never see us again."

"If you ever return, we will take severe action against you," I. Gypsem Good threatened.

"Hey, I said that we were leaving. Calm down!" Penny shouted back as she struggled to keep herself from hitting the unpleasant little man.

"Come on Rose. We're leaving. Shareen just got you evicted from the planet," Emma said with a sigh.

Rose looked at her blankly and asked, "What?"

"Are you okay, Rose? You look sick. That worries me because you're never sick," Emma said as her instincts as a mother took over.

"I don't know. I do feel sick. I haven't been sick since I was human. Time Lords rarely get sick, and the Vortex doesn't allow me to catch any diseases. Something's wrong," Rose said worried.

"I said for you to go now!" I. Gypsem Good shouted unrelentingly.

"Shut up, you stupid petty little moneygrubber! She's sick if you hadn't noticed!" Emma shouted back at him.

Penny looked at her startled. She had never seen Emma get mad about anything before. She was always such a pleasant easygoing person. She knew that something must be seriously wrong with Rose for her to act this way.

"Come on, Emma. We've got to go. It seems that I'm the de facto leader of the group today because everyone else is acting crazy," Penny said with a sigh.

Rose still stood there oblivious to what was going on around her. Penny knew that something was wrong with her by the way that she was acting. She lightly touched Rose's shoulder and said, "Come on, sweetie. Let's go. You need to go to the TARDIS' medical bay.

"Okay. I'm sorry, Pen. I don't know what's wrong with me. The Daleks did something to me," Rose said.

Penny shivered because she had been thinking the same thing herself in the back of her mind and to now hear Rose state that she believed that too scared her. All of the women got back inside of the TARDIS, and Rose set the controls to take them back to Earth. Penny noticed that Rose seemed to be shaking now and to be moving unsteadily. She was growing more and more concerned about her by the moment.

As the four of them were headed to the medical bay, Rose suddenly let out a massive scream and fell to the floor unconscious. Her three friends immediately rushed to her side, and Shareen started checking her vital signs.

"Her hearts are racing out of control, and she feels warm. We need to get her to the medical bay," Shareen said.

They carried her to the medical bay and hooked her up the best that they could to a diagnostic machine to monitor her vital signs. They didn't really know much about what everything on the machine meant, but they could tell that Rose's vital signs were changing rapidly by the minute. They had no idea what was happening to her, but they were sure that the Daleks had caused it with their strange new weapon. Emma and Shareen decided to stay with her and try to help her if they could while Penny went back to the Console Room to monitor events there.

The TARDIS materialized back on Earth, and Penny could read on the console that they were now back in UNIT HQ's parking lot where Rose usually kept her TARDIS. The TARDIS started to shake just a minute after their arrival as if they had suddenly become caught in an earthquake. Penny went to the monitor and saw that it was the Daleks again. They were attacking UNIT HQ!

"What are they doing? Following us?" Penny asked out loud in exasperation.

Rose's TARDIS got a call right after that, and Penny picked it up. It was Martha Jones on the line. She had seen Rose's TARDIS reappear and was calling to ask for Rose's help against the Daleks.

"I'm sorry, Martha, but Rose can't do anything right now. She's unconscious. The Daleks shot some kind of ray at her and now she's sick," Penny said.

"That's impossible. Rose is never sick!" Martha said with concern.

"Tell me about it. She's not going to be able to help you any time soon," Penny said.

"Oh, that's wonderful. The Bad Wolves are who knows where, the Doctor never answers his phone, I can't find Jack, and now Rose is down for the count. It's a wonderful day!" Martha said with a growl.

"Martha, she's really sick! I'm afraid that she might be dying!" Penny said in a tearful state.

"I'm sorry! I'm not trying to make light of whatever Rose is going through. I just don't know what to do to stop the Daleks without her. UNIT is good but even they can't do much against this many Daleks at once. The whole area is covered in them," Martha said with growing alarm in her voice.

"I'll see if I can locate Jack or Oswin. Maybe I can get one or both of them to come. I'll also see if I can contact Lily. She needs to be here anyway just in case," Penny said ominously.

Martha swallowed hard as she didn't even really have to ask what Penny meant by that last sentence. Rose must be very bad indeed. Martha started to shake and had to choke back a sob at the thought of something happening to her. She would have to make sure that Mickey was there if this was it for Rose. She knew that Mickey would never forgive himself if he wasn't there at the end with her.

The Daleks continued to bombard the area with no one but the valiant UNIT soldiers there to stop them. The soldiers did the best that they could but it was like ants fighting an oncoming foot. There was no chance of them even making a dent in the Daleks' attack.

Mickey had gotten a call about Rose's condition from Martha, and he used the key that Rose had given him to let himself into Rose's TARDIS as soon as he reached the UNIT base. He had braved constant deadly fire from the Daleks to get here. Nothing was going to keep him from being there for Rose if she needed him.

Penny wasn't at all surprised to see Mickey suddenly appear. She had expected Martha to call him as soon as she told her the bad news. She led Mickey to the medical bay, and they were both shocked to find Rose standing there looking better than ever. Just minutes ago, Rose had looked like she was on her death bed.

"What's going on? I thought that you were dying," Mickey said in confusion.

"It certainly felt like I was. I was actually changing, Mickey. The Daleks changed me with their weapon. I'm not the same as I was anymore," Rose said.

"What are you talking about? What did they do?" Penny asked.

"They changed me back into a human being again. I'm just Rose Tyler again," Rose said with a grin on her face.

"Why are you smiling for? There's a million Daleks out there, and you've got no more super powers to handle them with," Mickey said.

"They think that they've gotten me beaten, Mickey. They're wrong. They made a huge mistake by not killing me when they had the chance. I was fighting and beating Daleks even when I was just plain old ordinary Rose. I've got no Vortex powers and no Time Lord abilities, but I'll tell you what I have got," Rose said with an ever widening grin.

"What's that?" Mickey asked.

"I've got me and all of you. That'll be enough to win the day easily," Rose said with a confident grin on her face.

"Why don't I like the odds?" Mickey groaned.

"You worry too much, Mickey. We'll beat the Daleks easily in plenty of time, and then go grab a quick evening meal to celebrate. You'll see. Oh, I could kill for some chips right about now. Let's go clean the Daleks up quick so that I can get some!" Rose said with a swagger in her step as she marched off to the Console Room.

Mickey couldn't help but smile at her. She hadn't acted this happy in a long time. She was still the same old Rose. Throw her up against impossible odds in a life or death situation, and she acted like it was Christmas!

**Next: A very human Rose Tyler and her friends alone up against an army of Daleks. Will they be able to beat the Daleks by themselves? Will Rose ever change back again, or will I have to rename this title? Find out in the next chapter.**


	55. Chapter 55

CHAPTER 55

I do not own Doctor Who, and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews!**

The soldiers of UNIT were rapidly being surrounded by Daleks on all sides, and it looked as if they would soon be slaughtered once all of their avenues of escape had been cut off. It seemed to them that they were about to go down fighting in one last stand. They were determined to take as many of the Daleks as they could with them though.

Little did they know that they had an unexpected ally in their midst, one who was worth a whole planet full of Daleks. That ally chose this moment when all looked dark for the soldiers to strike back and to turn the course of the battle back in their direction. It was her specialty to do the impossible, after all!

Several aerosol cans were lobbed at the Daleks that were the closest to the UNIT troops and quickly exploded soon after hitting the ground. The affected Daleks were all left a smoking pile of rubble within seconds.

The Daleks that were in the rear and the furthest away from the soldiers all swiveled their eyestalks to see just who was attacking them. Once they saw who it was, they quickly gave this newest arrival their full attention.

Rose Tyler was standing in front of them holding a huge gun and a bag that was full of aerosol cans of Nitro-9 and a ton of other Dalek killing weapons as well. Standing around her were Penny, Emma, Gwyneth, Shareen, and Mickey. All of them also had bags full of Nitro-9 and other assorted weaponry as well.

"Do you like them? I borrowed the secret of how to make them from a friend of mine," Rose said with a smirk.

"IT IS ROSE TYLER! SHE IS AN ENEMY OF THE DALEKS! EXTERMINATE HER! EXTERMINATE!" they all started to shout in unison.

Several Dalek blasts were aimed at Rose at once, and it seemed to the soldiers that Rose would surely be cut down at any second. She would have if the blasts would have actually reached her. Fortunately for her though, none of them did. The blasts were absorbed by a force field that protected her and her friends from harm.

"Oh, did I fail to mention that I'm wearing a pendant around my neck that protects me and everyone around me with a force field? I borrowed that from the Time Lords once. It's a good thing I kept it, huh? You never know when seemingly useless junk is going to come in handy sometime," Rose said grinning.

Suddenly several of the Daleks who were firing on Rose were suddenly destroyed with a single blast fired from a concentrated energy weapon. The rest of the Daleks turned to see another Rose Tyler standing a few feet to the side of them.

"I am wearing a force field pendant, but I never said that that was the real me, did I? You'll have to watch out for stuff like that because I will fool you. This is the real me standing right here, Daleks. The one with the big gun pointed right at you!" Rose said with a ever widening grin on her face.

"EXTERMINATE!" the Daleks shouted as they fired their guns at this new Rose.

Rose activated a control on a wristband that she was wearing, and she instantly disappeared before the beams could reach her. The other Rose that the Daleks were now ignoring fired her own gun at them and destroyed even more of them.

The Daleks suddenly turned to face this Rose again as they realized that she was indeed real.

"Actually that version of me lied somewhat. You see, both versions of me were real. That me was the me from five minutes ago. I used a Vortex Manipulator to travel forward in time to help this version of me. You're really going to have pay attention now and keep up because it's bound to get all kinds of confusing around here very soon now," Rose said with a chuckle.

"EXTERMINATE!" the Daleks cried out again as they fired at the present Rose and their blasts still bounced harmlessly off of her force field.

"I told you that I have a force field. Keep up!" Rose taunted them.

She then quickly dropped her force field and shouted, "Now!"

All of Rose's companions started throwing Nitro-9 and Dalekanium bombs at the Daleks at the same time. Just as the last bomb was thrown, Rose swiftly brought the force field back up just in time to protect herself and her friends from the massive blast that went up once all of the bombs and Nitro-9 went off together at once! Several Daleks were wiped out in one fell swoop.

The Dalek forces had now been halved, and they began to nervously back away from Rose in fear. Since so many of them had now fallen, and she was as yet untouched; the Daleks now had good cause to fear her.

"Do not attack her. Attack the soldiers of UNIT instead. They are weak. Her compassion for them will inevitably cause her to make a fatal mistake. She will not be able to stand by and watch them die," a mysterious voice instructed the remaining Daleks.

The Daleks began firing on the soldiers once again. A force field protected the soldiers this time though, and their blasts bounced harmlessly off of it.

"My past self left a force field generator behind to protect them, Daleks. I wasn't about to leave them at your mercy," Rose said with anger in her voice and on her features.

"Fire at UNIT Headquarters itself," the mystery voice commanded the Daleks.

"No. No more death and destruction for you, Daleks," Rose said with fierceness in her voice.

She dropped her force field for a moment while the Daleks had turned their attention to UNIT HQ. She then activated her new and hastily cobbled together dimension cannon based on the block transfer computation technology of Logopolis that she had studied once as she was thinking of ways to make the dimension cannon work without ripping open the walls between the dimensions again. This new dimension cannon opened up a portal straight to the Vortex, and the Daleks all began to be quickly sucked into it.

Rose's companions and the UNIT soldiers all grabbed onto whatever they could find that was firmly stuck down into the ground in order to keep from being sucked into the portal themselves.

Rose was holding onto a nearby tree with all of her strength. She was the closest to the Vortex opening so she was the one who it had the strongest pull on. She knew that it would grab her at any minute now once her strength gave out.

She could shut the portal down now, or she could let it suck her in. It might be the only way to become the Bad Wolf again. She looked back at her friends one last time as she struggled to make a decision. She knew that she had to become what she was once more. As much as she loved being human again, she had to be the Bad Wolf in order to protect the people that she cared about. Then again, she might not become anything. She might just be killed instantly by being exposed to the Vortex. She wasn't sure what to do.

After several long, agonizing and soul searching moments, she finally came to a decision and let go of the tree. She smiled as she was instantly drawn inwards by the pull of the Vortex upon her.

Rose was sucked right into the portal and straight into the Vortex! As soon as Rose had gone inside of it, the portal closed behind her.

"Rose!" Mickey yelled in despair.

"What was she thinking?!" Penny said in anger.

"She was saving us all. It was the only way," Emma said as she put an arm around Penny to calm her.

'No. There was another way. There had to have been," Penny protested.

"Rose isn't beaten yet. I know it. She wouldn't just let herself get taken like that without a plan," Shareen said in disbelief.

Gwyneth remained silent. She already knew what happened this day, but couldn't tell anyone without possibly changing the future.

Mickey looked at Gwyneth suspiciously due to her lack of emotion at Rose's disappearance. He knew that the medium knew something that they didn't. That gave him a glimmer of hope that all might not be lost.

"Rose had to have had a plan. She had a Vortex Manipulator on so maybe she's about to use that to reappear any minute now," Mickey said.

"That's not possible. Exposure to the Vortex will kill an ordinary human being. Jack told me that it killed him when he hung onto the TARDIS as it went through the Vortex and travelled into the far future. The only reason that he survived was because he was immortal," Penny said.

"Rose isn't an ordinary human being. She was exposed to the Vortex before and survived," Mickey said with faith in Rose in his voice.

Thousands of Daleks then appeared out of nowhere and began to attack UNIT HQ once again. The buildings of the complex were instantly bombarded with Dalek blasts and began to shake and crumble from the massive assault.

"THE BAD WOLF IS DEAD! PROCEED WITH THE TOTAL ANNIHILATION OF UNIT AND THEN CONTINUE ONWARD UNTIL YOU HAVE DESTROYED THE ENTIRE PLANET! DALEKS CONQUER AND DESTROY! DALEKS CONQUER AND DESTROY!" the Daleks said together.

"It was all for nothing. She sacrificed herself for nothing," Shareen said in agony.

"No! They're lying!" Mickey shouted.

"I'm sorry," Penny said.

The Daleks continued to fire upon everything around them. They set several buildings on fire and made several others collapse. The soldiers could not stand against them even though they tried to several times. Each time they tried to make a stand, the Daleks would force them to scatter with the massive fire that they laid down upon them.

"Fall back! Fall back!" could be heard from several locations as the Daleks scattered everyone who stood against them as though they were leaves before a mighty wind.

"Destroy them! Destroy them all! All of Rose Tyler's precious human allies must pay the price for their association with her. All of those who ever gave Rose Tyler aid or succor must pay.

Everyone that she knows or has ever known must be scattered into atoms!" the same insidious voice from before ordered the Daleks.

"What did I ever do to you?" Rose's voice could suddenly be heard saying all around them.

She materialized right in the middle of the Dalek forces in a burst of golden energy. She was the Bad Wolf once more. As soon as she had entered the Vortex, the energy from it began to flow into her through her connection to it which had not been severed even in her human form. She had become filled with energy just as she had been once before, and she had used it to transform herself back into a Time Lady once more.

"I knew it. I knew it. I told you!" Mickey screamed with joy.

"EXTERMINATE HER!" The Daleks shouted over and over as they focused their attention onto her and several of them fired on her at once.

All of their energy blasts stopped just before they reached her and were frozen in time. She gestured towards them; and they were reflected back onto the Daleks who fired them, destroying them instantly.

The remaining Daleks started firing on her as soon as their brothers had fallen, but it was to no avail. Rose pulled out her sonic screwdriver and began bombarding them with it. She increased its energy output by adding her own Vortex powers to it and reconfiguring it on the spot. She had just created the first Vortex Screwdriver.

The Vortex Screwdriver continued to pour out the energy of the Vortex from inside of it and disintegrated all of the Daleks in one massive wave of energy that spread out from it. Rose looked at the results of her new invention with a grin of approval as she absentmindedly fixed all of the damage to UNIT HQ that the Daleks had just caused that day with a casual subconscious thought.

"You just can't beat the classics sometimes," Rose chuckled.

She could still feel a presence watching her even though she couldn't see them. She knew that it was this person who had sent the Daleks to change her back into a human and kill her.

"I don't know who you are yet, but I will find you. You're not going to get away with this," Rose said to the air. She could feel that whoever had been watching her could still hear her.

She was right. The Shadow switched off his link with the communication device that had still been functional from one of the destroyed Daleks in disgust. The renegade faction that had split off from Davros to join his cause had failed. It didn't matter though. He had many more plans still in motion plus there was the ultimate plan of resurrecting his master that was even now under way. Once that was done, it would be too late for Rose to do anything but die. He chuckled to himself, confident in his own ultimate victory.

Mickey ran up to Rose and hugged her tightly. He had almost given up on her. He would never make that mistake again.

"I knew you were planning something. You probably had the whole thing thought out from the beginning," Mickey said with a grin.

"No. I actually just thought of it on the fly. As soon as I opened up the power to the Vortex, I thought 'why not?' " Rose admitted with a mischievous look on her face.

"You could have died!" Mickey protested.

Rose shook her head with a wide smile as she said, "I could feel the Vortex calling to me. That's when I knew that it wouldn't kill me. It changed me before, and I knew that it would again because I'm a part of it."

"I hate it when you start talking all cosmic. You're worse than the Doctor when you do that," Mickey said with a groan.

Rose just laughed at him and hugged him tightly. She was glad that she had Mickey and the rest of her friends around to keep her from getting too full of herself. The last thing she needed to do was to start babbling away about stuff that no one else had a clue about and have everyone tune her out in boredom. One Doctor in the family was bad enough!

"It's time to head back to Barcelona and let you do some shopping, Penny," Rose said.

"Don't you remember? You were banned for life," Penny reminded her.

"I'll see about that. If there's one thing that will change I. Gypsem Good's mind every time, it's money. I'll show him my unlimited credit stick again, and he'll cave," Rose said confidently.

"What if he doesn't?" Shareen asked.

"Then I might just have to start shopping at his competition on the planet Rodeo and loudly proclaim how much better they are than Barcelona to everyone. Maybe I'll even do some commercials for them. That'll bring him around," Rose said with a wicked smile.

"You are just pure evil sometimes, Rose," Shareen said with a laugh.

"Don't tell anyone. It's our little secret. After all, I've got a reputation to uphold," Rose snickered as she held a finger to her lips.

**Next: The Doctor as a high school history teacher with Rose as his assistant? It happens. Find out what the Doctor and Rose are up to and why in the next chapter as the Doctor teaches his version of history to the class as it 'really happened'. Everything that you thought that you knew about certain moments in history may just be totally wrong!**


	56. Chapter 56

CHAPTER 56

I do not own Doctor Who, and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews!**

Francine Bates came to her history class with a sigh as she usually did. She hated history. It was always so dull and boring. To her, history had never been anything but dates, places, and meaningless facts. She would always sit and daydream during this time because she knew if she didn't that she'd fall asleep in less than a minute. She quickly got ready to fantasize about her latest crush when she noticed that today there were new faces at the teacher's desk.

There was a man with a high chin wearing a bow tie and a tweed jacket and a blonde woman with her hair tied in a bun wearing a woman's pant suit and glasses standing in the front of the classroom today. Francine liked the blonde immediately because she looked so uncomfortable in that outfit. She also looked like she'd rather be anywhere but there. Francine knew the feeling. She kept staring at the woman with a smile on her face because she just seemed to be so human and nothing at all like the stuck up stuffy teachers that she usually got. Francine hoped that with her around that today's class might actually be slightly interesting.

Francine had no idea just how interesting it was going to get. The history class in Park Vale Comprehensive School was going to be very different today indeed.

As soon as everyone was seated and class had begun, the man in the bow tie introduced himself.

"Hello, class. I'm Doctor John Smith. Your usual teacher just won the lottery and decided that she was going to take an early retirement so I've been called in today as your substitute," the man said.

"Mrs. Arbogast never played the lottery. She didn't believe in it," one of the kids in the class said.

"I know, and yet she had the winning lottery ticket slipped under her front door yesterday. Someone just gave it to her. Isn't that ironic?" the man said with a goofy grin on his face.

"Who cares what happened to her? She was dull," Francine said and made the class laugh.

"I can see that you're going to be a troublemaker, aren't you?" the man said with that grin still on his face.

"No, I'm not trouble. I just don't like history. Mrs. Arbogast always made it so boring," Francine admitted.

She didn't know why she had said that. She never would have been so forthcoming with a teacher before, but this man just seemed to bring her innermost feelings out of her somehow.

The man looked at her in shock as he said, "You don't like history? You don't like history?!"

Francine started to get a little scared now. She knew that she shouldn't have said anything! He was going to get her in trouble now for sure.

Then the man's expression and demeanor changed back to his earlier pleasant one as he said with a smile, "Well, we'll just have to do something about that, eh?"

Francine smiled back at him and sighed in relief. Maybe she wouldn't wind up in hot water today after all.

Suddenly the blonde was standing next to her with her hand on her shoulder and whispered, "Don't mind him. He's harmless. He just likes to put on airs and act all grumpy and self-important sometimes."

Francine smiled at her and nodded. She knew that she liked this woman. She was a real person and not a mindless robot.

"I'm Rose by the way. Rose Tyler. I'm the Doctor's . . . assistant," the blonde said with a wince at the job title.

"You don't like being thought of as anyone's assistant, do you?" Francine asked knowingly.

"Not really, no. I'm pretty smart in my own right so I should have been the teacher. He won the coin toss though. I still think that he used a two headed coin. He never would let me see it. Oh well, at least I'm not a lunch lady this time," Rose said with a wide grin.

Francine laughed at her thinking that she was joking, and Rose let her think so with a laugh of her own without commenting any further.

Rose then went back up front to stand next to the Doctor as he began to start the class. He looked at the lesson plans for a minute as he tried to see where Mrs. Arbogast had left off.

"Oh, you were on the French Revolution and Napoleon. That's what you were talking about yesterday, right?" the Doctor asked with glee in his voice.

"That's right. Mrs. A did say something about Napoleon I remember. He sounded like a jerk," Francine said.

The other kids in the class stared at her in complete surprise. Since when did Francine talk out in history class? Or even care about it for that matter?

"Oh, he was sometimes. He certainly could be. I remember having to argue with him about everything. He was always so sure that he was right, and I had the hardest time convincing him that he might actually be wrong about something sometimes," the Doctor said as he laughed to himself at the memory of the French Emperor.

"Are you trying to convince us that you knew Napoleon?" one of the other kids in the class asked with a smirk.

"Of course I did. I knew him very well as a matter of fact. I was his advisor once. He looked to me for advice on everything. Of course, I was a different man back then. I was much older than I am now. I used to walk around with a cane and be all grumpy all of the time. None of you would have liked me back then probably. I wasn't young, hip, and with it like I am now," the Doctor said with a manic grin on his face.

Rose rolled her eyes and tried very hard not to laugh at him. The class, however, did laugh at him because they thought that he was just joking to get them interested in the lesson.

"Yes, I used to give him advice all of the time. He was always totally clueless without me around to guide him. 'Boney, you can't march an army around on an empty stomach' I said to him. 'Give them all fish fingers and custard and maybe some jelly babies' I told him," the Doctor said.

"Doctor, did they even have jelly babies back then?" Rose asked him with a grin.

"Of course they did, Rose. I brought them some. I had plenty of them to hand around. I always have to have plenty of my sweets on hand you know," the Doctor responded happily.

"Yeah, it would be a real shame if you didn't have a jelly baby in your pocket to stuff in your mouth every minute of the day!" Rose said with a groan.

"Are you two married?" Francine asked.

"How could you tell?" Rose asked with a chuckle.

"I don't know. Something just tipped me off," Francine said with a huge smile on her face. She couldn't believe that she was actually enjoying school!

"She's a smart one, Doctor. You'll have to watch out for her," Rose said.

"Here I had her pegged as a troublemaker. That just goes to show that you can't always go by first impressions. That's what I told Boney as a matter of fact at Waterloo. He was so sure that he was going to win that day. I warned him not to fight, but he did insist. He was so sure that he had that battle already won just by showing up," the Doctor said.

"Wait a minute. You mean that you deliberately tried to alter history?" Rose asked him with a fake serious expression on her face.

"Ixnay, Rose. The Time Lords might earhay," the Doctor said in very bad Pig Latin.

"Yeah, well you don't have to worry about it. They'll never figure it out with that incredibly hard secret code that you just used to hide it with," Rose quipped.

"I know. That's the genius of having such a cool secret code, isn't it?" the Doctor joked back.

"Time Lords?" a blonde girl in the front of the class asked with a look of recognition and surprise on her face.

"Oh, don't pay any attention to him. He babbles. A lot! He never does make much sense," Rose said with a nervous laugh.

"Oi! I make perfect sense. I'm just so brilliant that no one understands me. I'm too far advanced so I have to wait for everyone else to catch up," the Doctor pouted.

"He's a very modest person as well. He's always so level headed and down to earth," Rose said as she rolled her eyes once more.

The blonde girl raised her hand and Rose said, "Yes?"

"Can I talk to you in private?" the blonde girl asked.

"Yes, after class," Rose said.

"Good. I have a lot to ask you about," the blonde girl said with great eagerness.

Francine looked at her oddly. She couldn't remember her name, but she knew her face. She was another one like her who never talked at all in class. She didn't know why because it was obvious that she knew all of the answers from her grades. She had always attributed it to shyness. She didn't seem too shy now though, and Francine wanted to know why. Maybe she would just have to find out what she was so interested in talking to the teachers about later because now she had her interest fired up.

The Doctor then continued the lesson as he said, "So I was talking about Boney at Waterloo. He lost big time and was exiled to St. Helena for the rest of his life. That wasn't always as boring as you might think because he once was called upon to save the world from a massive invasion by the Sontarans. They're all short and warlike you see. Just like Boney. The Duke of Wellington, who defeated him at Waterloo, went to Boney to ask him how to deal with them; and Boney came up with the brilliant plan of pretending that he was the Emperor of the Earth. The Sontarans loved him immediately and decided to go home and leave the Earth alone. He actually talked them out of attacking! How cool is that? I bet you won't find that in your history books though. They always leave out the best parts," the Doctor said with a sigh.

"That's really cool! So Napoleon lost at a place called Waterloo to the Duke of Wellington and was exiled for the rest of his life? That must have been a big comedown for him! I've learned more from you in the last couple of minutes then I did from Mrs. A in the last couple of months. You're a good teacher, Doc!" Francine said with enthusiasm.

"Well, it makes a big difference when you talk to someone who was actually there as opposed to reading about it from a book," the Doctor said smugly.

"Do you really expect us to believe that you were actually around two hundred years ago? I mean, come on, you look like a baby!" one of the students said, causing the others to laugh.

Rose laughed as she said, "They've got you there!"

"I'll have you know that I'm a lot older than I look, and I've done all kinds of things that you've never hear about in your history classes. For instance, I had a bit of a falling out with Queen Elizabeth I; and she called for my head because of it. Luckily, I got away from her in time, or I would have lost that last body a lot quicker. Then there was the time that she did catch me, and I wound up sharing a cell with Shakespeare. She arrested him for associating with me. Luckily, Shakespeare being the smooth talking man that he was got himself out of trouble and had the whole event struck from historical record by offering to write a play about her. Luckily for him and for all of you, she died before he could finish it properly; and he soon abandoned it. You wouldn't have wanted to read that, trust me! It was just horrible! It was nothing but boot licking and telling the Queen how great and wonderful she was. Some members of the audiences for early drafts of it actually drowned themselves in the Thames during the performance! It was that bad! I got along a little better with Queen Victoria. She only exiled me from the United Kingdom forever. As you can see though, it didn't take!" the Doctor said with a crazy grin on his face.

"You're full of it, man!" a student shouted.

"More like full of himself!" another student added.

"Shut up! I like him!" Francine shouted.

"Yeah! He's cool! He makes history fun!" another student joined in in defending the Doctor.

Most of the class added their approval of this sentiment, and it soon became clear that the Doctor's hecklers were in the minority. They quickly shut up and said nothing more for the rest of the class. The Doctor smiled to himself as his ego now raged on unchecked. He began to go on and on about all of his many meetings with the great names of history, and Rose knew that it was time for her to go. The kids might like it, but her mind was about to switch off if she didn't get out of there as soon as possible.

"Do you want to come with me and ask me about whatever's on your mind now?" Rose whispered to the blonde girl.

"Are you sure it's okay?" the blonde asked her.

"Yeah, he won't even notice you're gone. Trust me! He's so wrapped up in himself right now that I don't think that he would notice if the whole class was gone for at least thirty minutes if not longer," Rose said with a giggle.

The two of them went out of the room; and Francine, hoping that Rose was right about the Doctor not noticing her absence, snuck out after them. She was going to find out what was so important that it had to be talked about in secret.

Francine found Rose and the blonde talking in an out of the way part of the lunchroom. No one else was there so they thought that they had some privacy. Francine hid herself under a table and listened.

"You're her, aren't you? My mother's friend who travels through time and space?" the blonde asked.

"That's me. You're Sky Smith, Sarah Jane's daughter, aren't you?" Rose asked.

"Yes. I've heard all kinds of stories about you and the Doctor. You two just sound so amazing," Sky said in adoration.

"Thanks. I've heard a lot of amazing things about you too," Rose said.

"She told you about what I used to be able to do. About what I am," Sky said nervously.

"Yes, but don't worry about it. I'm one to talk. I'm an alien too," Rose said.

Francine couldn't believe her ears! They were both aliens. She began to worry. What would happen to her if they caught her here, and they found out that she knew their secret? Would they kill her? Would they eat her? What if they want to eat me? Francine worried to herself.

"Maybe that'll teach you not to eavesdrop from now on, Francine. You're getting yourself all upset. Luckily for you, we're not the kinds of aliens who eat humans. I like humans myself and so does Sky. You don't have to worry about us," Rose said in a gentle voice.

Francine looked at her in complete surprise. Rose had never even looked at her or turned her head. How did she know that she was here? She noticed that Sky hadn't known because she looked surprised and worried.

Francine slowly came out from under the table and slowly made her way to Rose and Sky. She was shaking all over from fear. What if it was a trick just to draw her out so that they could kill her? she thought to herself.

Rose turned and looked at her with a kind smile as she said, "It's no trick I assure you, Francine. I'm not going to eat you or kill you. Although that does reminds me that I'm incredibly hungry. I haven't had anything to eat at all today. I'm really overdue for something delicious that I left in my lunch back in the classroom. It's my favorite food, as a matter of fact."

"It's not humans though, right?" Francine asked with a nervous laugh.

"No. Chips! I could kill for some chips right now," Rose said.

Francine started to whimper at that, and Rose laughed at her as she said, "That's just a figure of speech. Calm down and relax!"

"She knows that I'm an alien. She'll tell everyone. They'll put me away somewhere!" Sky said in a panic.

"Now don't you start too! She's not going to tell anyone," Rose assured her.

"How do you know?" Sky asked her.

"I can see it in her mind. She's broadcasting her thoughts all over the place at full strength because she's so terrified. That's how I knew that she was here. I'm a telepath so I can hear her thoughts just as clear as day. It's more like shouting really so if you could calm down it would really help this headache that I'm forming," Rose said.

"I promise I won't tell anyone about either of you. Just let me go and don't hurt me!" Francine said as she began to panic herself.

Rose put her hands on either side of Francine's head and quickly put images of her life into her mind in order to calm her down.

"You were human once. You love this planet just as much as we do," Francine said in astonishment.

"That's right. So stop worrying, okay?" Rose said.

"Please don't tell anyone about me!" Sky begged Francine.

"I won't. I promise. I like aliens actually. I always thought that it would be cool to meet one as long as they didn't want to kill me," Francine said.

"Will you get over that? I swear that you've watched too many movies!" Rose groaned.

"Sorry. You're a cranky alien, aren't you?" Francine said with a grin.

"No, I'm not usually. It tends to happen though when someone keeps calling me a people eater," Rose said with a slight smile.

"I can't let you tell anyone about me!" Sky shouted, still panicking.

"I won't. I promise!" Francine said as she started to become scared of the crazed look on Sky's face.

Sky began to start glowing with energy, and Rose knew that she was about to do something drastic. Sky blasted a massive bolt of electrical energy at Francine; but Rose easily absorbed it. She then dispersed it harmlessly into the air as harmless static electricity. Francine hid behind Rose in complete terror now.

"Stop this now, Trickster! Sky doesn't belong to you," Rose commanded.

The Trickster appeared beside of Sky and glared angrily at Rose as he said, "How did you know? I hid my influence on her so well that not even the Shopkeeper and the Captain noticed it."

"Those two are very powerful, but not even they can hold a candle to me. Sarah Jane noticed that sometimes Sky just wasn't acting like herself lately, and she asked me and the Doctor to observe her in the classroom to make sure that she was alright. She suspected that Sky was under an outside influence, and she was right. I knew from the minute I saw her that it was you. I read her time line, and I saw you there all throughout it. You placed your essence inside of her from the beginning of her life, and then manipulated the Shopkeeper into giving her to Sarah Jane as a trap for her. You were going to use her to one day attack her own mother and help you to take over the world. It's not going to happen though. It ends here! Did you think that you could hide your influence on her from me? Did you really think that you could get away with this horrible plan of yours without me knowing about it?" Rose said in a furious voice as she immediately transformed into the Bad Wolf.

Rose then plucked the Trickster's essence out of Sky and sent it back into him with such force that the evil being was thrown back against the wall and shook the entire building from the impact.

"I am so sick of your interference in my plans! Someday that will come to an end. It will happen very soon now. He is returning, and your days are numbered. This universe will descend into perpetual chaos, and order will be a long forgotten thing of the past," The Trickster said in white hot anger.

He then disappeared, and Rose returned to her normal self. Sky was looking at her blankly, and she asked as she looked at Francine with concern, "What happened? I'm having trouble remembering what I did after I got angry. I didn't hurt anyone, did I? "

"No. You didn't do anything. Everything's fine now, Sky! Don't worry about it," Rose reassured her.

Francine was looking at both of them oddly, and Rose realized that what she had just seen had probably made her freak out.

"Are you okay, Francine?" Rose asked her.

Francine looked at her with a rapidly growing smile on her face as she said, "That . . . was . . . so . . . cool!"

Rose laughed at her. She was glad that everything was back to normal. Or at least as normal as things could be with the looming threat of the return of the Black Guardian hanging over her head.

"You're not going to tell anyone about any of this, right?" Rose asked Francine.

"Of course, I won't! Besides, who would believe me?" Francine asked in a matter of fact manner.

The three of them silently slipped back into the classroom to see that the Doctor was still talking. He really hadn't noticed them leaving at all as far as Rose could tell.

Then after class was over, Rose found out just how wrong she was when the Doctor asked, "So who was it?"

"What?" Rose asked in surprise.

"Who was behind the whole building shaking before? It was obviously the same person who was behind Sky's problems," the Doctor reasoned.

"It was the Trickster," Rose said.

"Of course. He was on my short list of possible candidates. Don't look so surprised! I knew what was going on more or less. I'm more than just an incredible handsome man with a cool wardrobe. I'm a genius to boot!" the Doctor said with a cocky look on his face.

"You're also incredibly humble," Rose said as she gave him a peck on the lips.

"I pale in comparison to you though when it comes to handling people like the Trickster," the Doctor said with a serious expression.

"That's one of the few times that I've ever heard you admit that someone else is better than you at something," Rose said with a warm smile.

"When it comes to you, I'll gladly admit to such a thing any time," the Doctor said as he kissed her passionately for several minutes.

"That'll show old Casanova who the better lover is," the Doctor said afterwards.

"Will you let that whole incident go? I only let him kiss me to show you that you couldn't take me for granted," Rose said with a groan.

"I know that. I'm still mad about the arrogance of the man though. He was so smug and conceited. I hate people that full of themselves!" The Doctor said with a distasteful look on his face.

Rose started laughing at him and couldn't stop. The Doctor looked at her in complete bewilderment. He had no idea what she had found so funny.

"Well, I guess now that Sky is safe we can quit this job. I hate to not come back tomorrow. I think the kids were actually listening to me and learning something," the Doctor said.

"You just want to go back because most of them loved you and hung on your every word. That's like catnip to your ego," Rose said with a snicker.

"That's not true! I love teaching impressionable young minds. Their adoration was just a nice perk," The Doctor said with a mischievous smile.

"I guess I could get my mum to cover for us here until a regular teacher can be found," Rose suggested.

"Oh, no! Those poor children! How can you do that to them, Rose? Making them spend all of that time with Crazy Lily! No one deserves that! Of course she is the most qualified person that I know to teach history. After all, she's lived through all of it!" the Doctor joked.

The Doctor's scream as Rose slapped him could be heard throughout the entire building.

Mr. Smith picked up the Doctor's scream on his monitoring equipment and said, "Sarah Jane, I am picking up an unusual noise from the area of Sky's school. It is of undetectable origin, but it sounds like a wounded animal."

As Mr. Smith played the strange noise for her, Sarah Jane smiled to herself as she recognized the Doctor's scream from the many times that Rose had slapped him in her presence before and knew that that meant that Sky was safe.

**Author's Note: AmethystLainey suggested that I use Sky in this story so I give the credit for her inclusion to her. The idea of Sky being a plan by the Trickster against Sarah Jane was exactly what the writers on the Sarah Jane Adventures were planning on doing to wrap up the fifth season of the show. I thought that it was too good an idea to pass up incorporating in some way into a story. **

**Next: A story of the past as Arkytior and Cliodna travel to Earth, and Arkytior meets Charles Dickens for the first time.**


	57. Chapter 57

CHAPTER 57

I do not own Doctor Who, and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews!**

Francine Bates was down in the dumps ever since that amazing day in her history class had ended. She had never felt so alive in her life as she had on that day. She wanted to recapture that feeling. The teacher that they had gotten to replace Rose and the Doctor was nice and delightfully insane, but she wasn't the same.

She had really gotten attached to Rose. She had liked her a lot. She wished that she could find her again and get to share in some more of her amazing adventures. She was sure that someone as fascinating as Rose must have all kinds of them.

The teacher that had replaced Rose, Miss Ceres, came up to her a few days later and asked, "Is something wrong, Francine? You look like you've lost your best friend and your dog on the same day. You've had that look ever since I've been teaching this class. Is it me? Have I done something to make you upset?"

"No, you're a great teacher. You teach history like you were actually there. I actually like you, and I never like any of my teachers," Francine said.

"Well, what is it then? Why are you so down?" Miss Ceres (that's Lily to you) said.

"I miss the woman that was here before you. Rose Tyler. She was so cool. I wish that I could get to see her again," Francine admitted.

Lily laughed as she said, "I agree that she is very cool. Of course, I may be biased. Cheer up, Francine. Maybe she'll pop back up in your life again. You never know. Sometimes in life, we find things that we've lost again in the most unlikely places. It can take you by complete surprise. That applies to people too."

Francine looked at her with a renewed look of hope on her face as she said, "Do you think so? I wish that that were true. Do you think that I might run across Rose again somewhere?"

"Oh, I can practically guarantee it! It's only a matter of time," Lily said with a wicked smile as if she had just made a private joke that only she had understood.

"Thank you, Miss Ceres. You've made me feel better than I have in days," Francine said as she hugged Lily tightly for a few seconds.

"Don't mention it, Francine. Oh, and when we're in private you can call me Lily, okay?" Lily said.

"Lily? I thought your first name was Diana?" Francine asked confused.

"My friends call me Lily," Lily said with meaning.

"Thank you, Lily. I'd love to be your friend," Francine said.

"Why don't you go on home now, Francine? Maybe you'll run across someone you know along the way," Lily said mysteriously.

"Alright. See you tomorrow, Lily," Francine said as she left.

"Maybe, and then again maybe you won't. I think you're about to have your life totally turned upside, Francine Bates," Lily said to herself with a smile after Francine had left.

Francine was slowly walking home by the longest path that she could take. She was really hoping that Lily had been right, and that maybe she might cross paths with Rose again someday. Maybe she might even see her again on the way back. She knew that it was a long shot, but she could still dream, couldn't she?

A pink sports car suddenly appeared out of nowhere going down the road beside her. She had no idea where it had come from so quickly. She was watching it with mild interest until she suddenly saw who the driver of the car was. Her heart jumped out of her chest as she saw that it was Rose.

The car stopped next to her and Rose said, "Hop in. I was told that you wanted to see me again so I decided to drop by. I wanted to talk to you again anyway. I need to have a long overdue conversation with you."

Francine got into the car, and Rose sped off. Francine was looking at Rose with growing anticipation as the blonde remained silent. She wondered what it was that she had wanted to talk to her about.

"What is it you wanted to tell me? Where are we going anyway?" Francine asked after a long silence.

"I'll tell you when we get where we're going in Leadworth. There's a friend of mine that I want you to meet," Rose said.

"I haven't even told my parents that I was going anywhere. They'll be worried," Francine said.

"Don't worry. I'll get you back before they can even miss you. Unlike some people, I try not to worry my friends' parents by keeping them gone for a long period of time like say twelve months," Rose said.

Francine looked at her with a totally bewildered expression on her face. She had no idea of course of what she was talking about.

Someone else, however, knew exactly what Rose was talking about.

You're never going to let that go, are you? the Doctor said through their mental link together.

No. I'll still be reminding you of that for hundreds of years yet to come. You deserve that much for what you put my mum through! Rose thought with a grin on her face.

You're evil sometimes. The Doctor thought.

I know. Don't you like a bad girl though? Rose asked him as her grin widened.

I certainly do. Talk to you later. the Doctor thought back.

See you. Rose thought as the Doctor left her mind.

Francine was staring at her like she had gone mad. Rose knew that she just saw her sitting there grinning away and chuckling for no apparent reason.

"I'm not crazy, Francine. Well no more than usual anyway. Don't worry. I told you that I'm telepathic, right? I was just talking to the Doctor in my head," Rose explained.

"That must be so cool to be able to do that. I'd love to be able to do that," Francine said.

Rose looked at her oddly as if she knew something that she didn't. Francine started to get visibly upset by her reaction.

Rose smiled warmly at her and said in a soothing voice, "There's nothing to be upset about, Francine. I promise."

Francine nodded, but she still felt nervous. Rose could tell that it would be best if she got this over with as quickly as possible.

"Maybe we should just travel there the quick way. Driving will take too long," Rose said with a big smile on her face about what she was going to do.

"The quick way?" Francine asked.

"Watch," Rose said.

She revealed the hidden panel on the dashboard of the car and punched in coordinates. Her TARDIS then dematerialized as it drove down the highway.

Francine looked around her in shock as she could see the Vortex through the special filters on Rose's car windows that allowed humans to see it without going blind. She couldn't believe what was going on! Was she going insane?

"Maybe I should have told you that this car is actually a time machine. It travels through time and space, and it's called a TARDIS. This fancy light show that you're seeing here is called the Vortex. That's what it travels through to get to other times and places," Rose explained.

"So all of that stuff about being involved in history was all true," Francine said in awe.

"Yep. Although with the Doctor, I never can be quite sure. He has a tendency to exaggerate his role in things," Rose said with a grin.

Francine laughed and finally felt at ease again. Rose inwardly smiled as she noticed this. She was glad that Francine wasn't all tensed up anymore.

They soon materialized inside of Amy and Rory's house in Leadworth. Francine just laughed at the absurdity of it all. She was now inside someone's living room. It was just so bizarre!

Rose and Francine got out of the car to find a young redheaded woman waiting for them. The woman kept looking at Francine with a strange look just like the one that Rose had given her. Francine started to get nervous again and began to shake visibly.

"It's okay. No one's going to hurt you," the red head said to Francine.

"I just don't understand what I'm doing here. Is this your house?" Francine asked her.

"Yes it is. My name's Amy Pond. I've so looked forward to meeting you, Francine," Amy said with a kind smile.

"Why? I don't know you," Francine said.

"I'll explain that later. For now, my friend Rose has a story to tell you. It's about Charles Dickens, and it involves a day where he ran into some aliens. That kind of thing seemed to happen a lot to him in his last days," Amy said.

"Charles Dickens used to have regular contact with aliens?" Francine said intrigued and now less nervous.

"Oh, yes. He was like an alien magnet towards the end of his life for some reason. I'm going to tell you a story about one of his encounters with them," Rose said.

"Cool. Talk away then. I love to hear about aliens," Francine said happily.

Rose and Amy exchanged yet another strange look that unnerved Francine. She was fairly certain that she could trust Rose though so she didn't get too upset about it.

"This story takes place right after Charles Dickens left Cardiff where he had been for several days around Christmastime in 1869 while doing public readings of his book, A Christmas Carol. He was heading home from the last day of these readings when he was waylaid by the sudden appearance of a giant mirror from out of nowhere right in front of his carriage. This spooked the horses, and they stopped moving as they stared at the strange object in fear. To Charles' utter amazement, he saw three women emerge from behind the mirror as if through a hidden door in the back of it. He knew that there was no way that they could have all fit into the mirror so he guessed that it must be a TARDIS. He had come across the Doctor before and therefore knew about time traveling aliens and their machines," Rose said as she started her story.

"This is so awesome so far. So the Doctor knew Charles Dickens. Did the Doctor know every major historical figure?" Francine asked.

"According to him, yes," Rose said.

"He certainly has enough stories about them. I know for a fact that he knew Winston Churchill though. I was with him one of the times that he met him," Amy said with a grin.

"You traveled with the Doctor?" Francine said as she looked at Amy in reverence.

Amy laughed at her as she said, "Yes, I did. I traveled with him a lot actually. I even met Vincent Van Gogh once, and he asked me to marry him. I turned him down, but then I'm sure you guessed that."

Francine's expression made Amy laugh even harder. The girl could hardly believe her ears Amy knew.

"Let's get back to my story before we get too sidetracked. I swear it's like the Doctor is actually here and distracting everyone with tales of his exploits like he usually does," Rose said laughing.

"Please do. I want to find out who the three women were and why they suddenly appeared," Francine said.

As Rose began to talk, Francine could see it all unfold in her mind's eye just like she had actually been there to witness it. It almost seemed like she had, and it gave her a weird feeling.

**Earth, late December 1869.**

Charles Dickens got out of his carriage to go talk to the three mysterious women who had emerged from the mirror. His carriage driver tried to get him to go back, but he quietly ignored him. From what he could see, the women were harmless. They seemed more interested in arguing with each other than with bothering him.

"Look what you've done now, you little menace!" Cliodna said in a furious tone.

"It was an accident. I didn't mean to do it. Stop yelling at me," a young Time Lady named Selene said in a nervous tone.

"Cloidna, it doesn't do us any good for you to scream at your little sister. She didn't do it on purpose. I was watching her. She accidentally pushed that switch backward when she leaned too far against the console. She's obviously already very upset about it from the way she keeps shaking so leave her alone," Arkytior said in a calm voice.

"You don't understand. She's always doing stuff like this. She gets into huge messes all of the time, and I'm expected to come along and fix everything. I'm sick of it. You need to grow up, Selene!" Cliodna yelled.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to do it. It was an accident. Please stop yelling at me," Selene said near tears.

"Hello, ladies. Can I help?" Charles said as he slowly approached them.

"Oh, great! Now we've gotten the attention of one of the locals. Who knows what he'll do to us? If we get killed here, it's all your fault!" Cliodna yelled again.

"Stop it, Cliodna. Leave her alone!" Arkytior yelled.

Cliodna looked at her in shock. Arkytior never yelled. She was always quiet and reserved. This was completely out of character for her.

"I'm sorry for yelling, but you need to leave her alone. She's just a kid. Kids make mistakes you know," Arkytior said firmly.

"I assure you that I mean the three of you no harm. I merely wish to help in whatever way that I can," Charles assured the women in a gentle tone.

"Thank you, sir. I don't think that there's anything that you can do though, Mister . . . " Arkytior said as she fished around for his name.

"Dickens. Charles Dickens," Charles said.

Arkytior's eyes widened as she recognized the name. He was one of her favorite human writers. She loved his books. Theta had read them to her all of the time when she was much younger and still trying to learn human languages. He loved them even more than she did.

"I take it that they've even heard about me on other worlds then judging from your reaction," Charles said with a certain degree of pleasure in his voice.

"They have on my world. How is it that you even know about other worlds? I didn't know that you ever had such knowledge," Arkytior asked in surprise.

"I've met several aliens recently. One alien in particular keeps coming back to visit me a lot. She's a very special woman. I hope that I get to see her again before my time comes," Charles said sincerely.

Arkytior wondered if this woman might have been one of her own people. The Celestial Intervention Agency might have taken some kind of interest in Charles Dickens for some reason.

"Did this woman have a machine that traveled through time and space called a . . . ," Arkytior started to ask.

"TARDIS? Yes, she did. Are the three of you Time Lords as well then?' Charles interrupted her with a smile.

"Yes. We've come here by accident. Our machine was knocked off course by a mistake, and now the controls have locked up. We may be stranded here for a long, long time unless we can fix it," Arkytior explained.

"I would be glad to give you any assistance that you need. Perhaps if my friend returns, she may be able to help you as well," Charles said.

"We can't count on anyone to come and save us. We'll have to do it ourselves. You would really help us? We're not even from this world," Cliodna asked.

"Yes, I would. I would never turn my back on someone who needed help no matter where they came from," Charles said.

"Thank you!" Cliodna said warmly.

Charles looked at them oddly for a minute and then asked, "Is it possible that I have met the two of you before? You both seem so familiar to me even though I'm certain I've never laid eyes on either of you before."

"It's possible that we could meet you in the future in a different regeneration maybe," Arkytior said.

"Yes, it would have already happened for you but may not happen for a long time for us," Cliodna agreed.

"My friend said something about regeneration once. You can totally change your forms and become different people when you die," Charles said.

"That's right. That might explain why we wouldn't look the same but seem familiar," Arkytior said.

"Regardless of whether I know you or not, you are welcome to join me," Charles offered.

Arkytior and Cliodna looked at each other for a moment, and then they both nodded.

Charles brought the three of them and their TARDIS with him back home and paid for a hotel room for a week for them. It took them a few days, but they finally repaired their TARDIS before the week was up. The three of them then decided to pay Charles back for his kindness before they left for Gallifrey.

When they came to him to offer him something in return for his help, he politely refused as he said, "You have no need to help me. One of your people showed great kindness to me quite recently, and I feel that maybe somehow I'm paying her back for that by helping the three of you who are lost travelers from her home world. It's the least that I can do for her."

"If I ever get the chance to help you in some way, Mr. Dickens, then I will. We might have gotten into major trouble all on our own here with no one to help us," Arkytior promised.

The three of them thanked him for his help, and they started to get back into their TARDIS and leave when Arkytior hesitated. She walked back to him and hugged him tightly.

"I'll never forget you," Arkytior said.

"Nor I you, Arkytior. I still feel as though I know you from somewhere before. I would think that you were my friend that I told you about earlier except that you are very different from her," Charles said.

"Time Lords change their personalities when they regenerate," Arkytior said.

"She told me that as well, but this would be a complete personality change. She would have had to be reborn as a different person entirely somehow," Charles said.

"I'm probably not her, but I'm glad that she was there for you when you needed it. I can tell that you're very sick. Whatever she did has obviously made you feel better about your condition," Arkytior noted.

"Yes, it did. I felt all depressed and uncertain until she started appearing in my life. She's helped me a great deal," Charles admitted.

"I'm glad. I suppose I'll go now then. Thank you once more and good bye," Arkytior said as she turned to leave.

Charles had a sudden inspiration as Arkytior left and he shouted out after her, "What does your name mean in English?"

"It's the name of a flower on my planet. It would be roughly equivalent to a rose on Earth," Arkytior said as she got into her TARDIS and waved good bye to him before she closed the door.

"Rose," Charles almost whispered.

As Arkytior's TARDIS dematerialized, Charles started to laugh. Now he knew! Rose had helped him because of her great kindness that much was so, but she had also done it because she felt that she owed him a debt that she had never been able to repay. Truly time travel had a circular nature indeed!

Rose ended her story to see Francine staring blankly ahead at her with a glassy look in her eyes. She sat there as though in a trance, and then she reached into her pocket and pulled out a fob watch from it.

"She's starting to remember, Amy," Rose said.

"I thought that that story would help to jog her memory if anything would. That time was very traumatic for her. I didn't help her either with my bad temper," Amy said with guilt.

"I – I – I don't want to change. I'm happy as Francine," Francine finally said.

"You don't have to change, sweetie. You can stay human if you want. I just thought that you should know. I just wanted to make sure that you were happy, and you did seem to be when I first met you," Amy said.

"You're my sister. I'm the one who stranded the two of you in the past," Francine realized.

"Yes, you are. I'm so sorry for the way that I treated you. Please forgive me," Amy said.

"I do. There's only one thing that I ask for. Please let me go back to my old life. Let me forget again," Francine said.

"If that's what you want, I'll do it. I just want you to be happy," Amy said.

"Thank you!" Francine said with a relieved look on her face.

Amy placed her hands on Francine's head and wiped her memories of the last few minutes from her mind. Francine stared at her in incomprehension for a minute; and then she said, "That story about Charles Dickens was amazing. Could I maybe come by and hear some more stories like that again from you two? Maybe I could go traveling with you sometime?"

"Maybe when you're a little older, you could travel with us. As for the stories, of course you can. You can come and talk to us anytime. You're always welcome here," Amy said as she hugged Francine.

"Thank you!" Francine said.

"It's time that I took you back home. I'll take you back early so they won't even miss you just as I promised," Rose said grinning.

"Thanks, Rose. That's the last thing that I need is to have my parents yelling at me. I hate to be yelled at," Francine said as Amy winced nearby unnoticed by her.

As Rose and Francine got into Rose's TARDIS to leave, Francine said, "Goodbye, Amy. I'll see you later."

As the TARDIS dematerialized, Amy said, "Goodbye, Selene. I hope that you have a good life."

**Next: A portal has opened up in the middle of London, and no one knows where it leads to. UNIT is terrified that something awful is about to come through it. They call upon their top alien expert for help, but he doesn't answer his phone so Rose gets the nod instead. As Rose tries to find out what's going on, she meets Professor Malcolm Taylor and finds out that the portal has been opened by an old enemy of hers and the Doctor's who seeks to return to gain his revenge. **


	58. Chapter 58

CHAPTER 58

I do not own Doctor Who, and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews!**

Rose was waiting for Francine outside of school the next day after they had visited Amy together. Francine couldn't say that she was too surprised to see her. For some reason unknown to her, Rose seemed to be very interested in her.

It didn't matter what Rose's reason was to Francine, she just hoped that it led to some real adventures in time and space this time. Meeting Amy had been nice and she had liked her, but she wanted to meet some more aliens. She wanted to go back in time or better yet go to another planet.

Francine ran up to Rose and said excitedly, "Where are we going? Can I go traveling through time and space with you now? I'll stick close by you. I won't wander off. I promise."

"Sorry, we're staying here on Earth, Francine. However, we might come up against some aliens before all is said and done. I usually do," Rose said with a grin.

"Awesome!" Francine said with a grin as she got into Rose's car/TARDIS.

Rose laughed at her enthusiasm as her cell phone rang. The ring tone was a song by her favorite singer.

"So you like her?" Francine asked about the music.

"Yeah, I do. I think she's the greatest singer on the planet," Rose said with a wicked grin.

"You know you kind of look like her," Francine said as she eyed her intensely.

"So I've been told," Rose said with an even wider grin.

Rose opened up the phone and answered it.

"This is Professor Malcolm Taylor with UNIT. I'm trying to contact Rose Tyler. I really, really hope that she's not too busy right now," the voice on the other end said with some urgency.

"Not really. I'm just taking a friend of mine for a drive. I was going to take her shopping. If it's something important though, I can save that for later," Rose said.

"You mean that you're Rose Tyler? THE Rose Tyler?!" Malcolm said in absolute excitement.

"That's right. Who else did you expect to answer this phone?" Rose said with a chuckle.

"I know. It's just that I thought that maybe you had a secretary or something. I never thought that I'd get to speak to you in person. This is just amazing. I have Rose Tyler on my phone!" Malcolm said in a tone of disbelief.

Rose started to laugh as she remembered that people used to treat the Doctor like that and ignore her once upon a time. Now she was getting the celebrity treatment. It was very strange.

"It's very nice to meet you, Professor. Can you tell me what it was that you wanted to talk to me about?" Rose asked as she cut to the chase.

"Yes, of course. I almost forgot. A portal has opened up in the middle of London, and we have no idea where it leads. So far nothing has come out of it or gone into it, but we're getting some very strange energy readings from it. It's putting out energy on an astronomical scale. This is so bizarre. It reminds of the time that I met the Doctor. Something very similar happened then too," Malcolm said.

"Wait a minute! I remember your name now. You're the Malcolm that the Doctor met during that whole business with the Swarm, right? He told me about you," Rose said.

"Oh, my goodness! The Doctor remembers me, and he told Rose Tyler about me. The Doctor and Rose Tyler had an actual conversation about me!" Malcolm said in absolute joy.

"Calm down, Professor. You're going to have a coronary or something," Rose said as she tried not to laugh.

"Right. I just love meeting you so much, Miss Tyler. You're one of my heroes. You're my second favorite next to the Doctor. I tried to get him first, but he wouldn't answer the phone. I asked Doctor Jones what to do, and she gave me this number," Malcolm said.

"So I'm your second choice in every way then, eh?" Rose said sounding hurt.

"Oh, no no no! I didn't mean it like that at all. I just naturally thought of calling the Doctor first because he's my favorite. He was my favorite long before anyone ever heard of you. That's nothing against you because I like you too. I think that you're amazing," Malcolm said.

"Thank you, Professor! I'm nothing special though, and I'm no hero. I just use my powers to help people the best that I can. Anyone could do what I can do if they had my abilities," Rose said modestly.

Rose could see Francine frown at that and shake her head as Malcolm similarly expressed a disagreement with her. He said, "No, you're wrong about that. Most people wouldn't do what you do if they had your power, Miss Tyler. They'd only think of themselves, and they'd use it selfishly. That's one of the things that make you so amazing is that you're so magnanimous and giving even with all of the power that you have. It hasn't gone to your head at all."

"Well, let's just agree to disagree, Professor. Give me the exact location of the portal, and I'll be there in a few minutes," Rose said.

Rose got the portal's location and then hung up. Francine looked at her and said, "He's right you know."

Rose ignored her as she said, "I guess I'll have to give you a rain check on our day together. I can't take you into danger, Francine. You're still just a kid."

"I am not. I'm fifteen years old. I'm almost an adult," Francine said defiantly.

"I don't want to explain to your parents why their daughter was killed by a Dalek, Francine. You're not going. I'm dropping you off at your house, and that's that," Rose said firmly.

Francine looked at her oddly, and Rose thought that she must have really upset her. She spoke to her in a gentler tone as she said, "Listen, Francine. I know that you want to go, but it's too dangerous. Maybe you can go when you're older, okay?"

Francine continued to look at her strangely, and Rose was alarmed to see that she had pulled a fob watch out of her pocket. Francine held the fob watch in her hand for a moment, and then she put it back in her pocket once more. After she did so, she suddenly returned to normal as if nothing had happened. She looked at Rose and pouted at the idea of having to go home.

Please, I don't want to go home. I want to go with you," Francine said whining.

"No, Francine. I can't endanger you like that," Rose said.

"Fine. I don't want to go with you anyway. Who needs to see your stupid portal?" Francine said in anger.

"I'm sorry!" Rose said meaning it.

Francine could see that Rose really did feel badly about it, and she put her arm around her in a one-armed hug.

"It's okay. I understand," Francine said in a calmer voice.

"Good," Rose replied.

Rose dropped Francine off in front of her house minutes later, and she watched her go inside with a sigh of relief. She then went inside of her TARDIS through the trunk of the car. She then went to the wardrobe to get changed into her 50's outfit. She loved to go on adventures in that one the most after all.

Unknown to Rose, Francine came back out of her house and stood in front of the trunk of Rose's TARDIS. She knew that this was where Rose had gone to because she had watched her from her living room window. She tried to open the trunk even though she knew that it would probably be locked and was surprised to find that it immediately opened to her touch.

She quickly snuck into the TARDIS and quietly shut the door behind her. She stared in awe at the console room; and then as she quickly regained her wits, she ran into the maze of corridors behind the console room and hid there. She would wait there until it was too late for Rose to send her back before she emerged.

Rose, having no idea that she had picked up an extra passenger, dematerialized her TARDIS and landed at the location of the portal within a minute. She could see some UNIT troops already stationed there. They stood to attention when she emerged from her TARDIS and saluted her.

Rose saluted them back as she said, "I'm here like I promised. Everyone stand back, and I'll examine the portal. I hope that it's just some harmless anomaly that I can easily fix. That's bound to happen sometime, right?"

Rose pulled out her Vortex Screwdriver and chuckled to herself. She still couldn't get used to having created her very own unique tool. She scanned the portal with it and discovered that it was an opening that led straight to the Vortex itself.

It was odd that she hadn't felt the Vortex's pull as soon as she had arrived. It was almost as if someone was trying to cloak its true energies even from her. She was afraid of where the connotations of that thought might lead her. She didn't even want to think about what might be about to emerge from inside of the Vortex.

She soon got an answer to her question though a minute later as she saw a familiar figure starting to approach the opening of the portal from inside of it. She watched in horror as the figure got closer and closer to her, and she knew that soon it would be emerging into the heart of London if she didn't stop it.

"What is that?" one of the soldiers said as he too could see the figure's approach.

"His name is Sutekh the Destroyer. If I don't stop him, he'll destroy this entire planet," Rose said as a wave of worry quickly swept over her.

She would be even more worried if she knew that she had unwillingly led Francine right into Sutekh's path!

**Next: The return of Sutekh! Can Rose stop him from coming through the portal in time? **


	59. Chapter 59

CHAPTER 59

I do not own Doctor Who, and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews!**

Francine thought for sure that she was alone in Rose's TARDIS since she had heard Rose leave. She was therefore taken by surprise when she heard someone shut a door near where she was standing in the library. She then heard the sound of footsteps rapidly approaching her location, and she hid behind a bookshelf in a panic.

"Is someone there?" a female voice called out.

Francine silently walked deeper into the library in an attempt to hide better. She quickly found a video section and stopped in her tracks at what she saw there.

She saw herself on the monitor in the library! She was being watched by someone. It couldn't be Rose or the woman near her. Who was watching her?

"I knew that someone was here! Who are you?" the same voice as before said from behind Francine's back.

She turned to see two women standing there looking at her with suspicious eyes. She got very nervous and couldn't speak for a minute.

"I'm Francine. I'm a friend of Rose's," Francine finally said in a shaky voice.

The woman who had initially found her could tell that she was scared and spoke in a much gentler tone as she said, "Does she know that you're here, Francine?"

"No. I snuck in here after she thought that she had dropped me off at home. I wanted to go have an adventure with her. She told me that I was too young, but I'm not. I'm almost an adult," Francine protested.

"She was right, Francine. You are too young. You need to go home now. I'm sure your parents must be worried sick about you. Come on, let's go find Rose and let her know what you've done. My name's Shareen, by the way; and this is my friend, Gwyneth," the woman said.

"She's gone out to handle some kind of case that some professor guy called her in on. She won't have time to take me back," Francine said with a triumphant grin.

"You might wish that she had before everything's done. Things tend to get very dangerous very quickly around Rose," Shareen warned her.

"I know. Isn't it cool?" Francine said happily.

Shareen shook her head at the girl, and then realized for the first time that Francine was on the monitor.

"Why are you on the monitor?" Shareen asked confused.

"I don't know. I was wondering that myself," Francine admitted.

"The TARDIS is observing her. She's gained the TARDIS' interest for some reason," Gwyneth said as she spoke for the first time since Francine had met her.

"Rose's ship is interested in me? Why?" Francine asked with her voice full of curiosity.

"I don't know, but there must be something special about you. I've never known this TARDIS to show an interest in observing anyone before," Gwyneth said.

"Me either. That is just weird. Maybe Rose can explain it later. Come on, kid. Let's go out there and tell her that you're here," Shareen said.

"I'm not a kid," Francine protested.

"I didn't mean to be condescending," Shareen said.

Francine nodded in acceptance of her apology and smiled at her. Shareen then led the girl toward the console room just in time for the whole TARDIS to start shaking around them.

"What's going on?" Francine cried out in alarm.

"I have no idea. It usually doesn't do something like that unless we're in the Vortex," Shareen said in a worried tone.

The monitor on the console room switched on by itself startling all three women. On the monitor, they could see the portal that Rose had come here to see about. Inside of the portal, they could see a mysterious figure approaching closer and closer to the opening. He would be on Earth now in a matter of minutes. They could see Rose and some UNIT soldiers standing nearby watching in horror.

"You really should have stayed home," Shareen said to Francine.

The TARDIS shook again, and they could see that the soldiers on the monitor were being shaken about as well but were able to remain on their feet. Only Rose seemed unaffected by the strange earthquakes in the area. She remained standing firmly on the ground no matter how much or how hard the earth around her shook. Shareen attributed that to Rose's cosmic powers in action. There wasn't much that could affect Rose if she didn't allow it to.

Francine noticed this too and said, "Isn't Rose just so awesome?"

Shareen chuckled at her as she answered, "You haven't seen the half of what she can do yet I'm sure."

"I know. I want to find out all about it though," Francine said excitedly.

Shareen shook her head at the girl again, and then she opened the TARDIS doors and stepped outside. Francine reluctantly followed her with Gwyneth walking behind her to make sure that she didn't turn back.

Rose saw them standing there out of the corner of her eye and immediately looked at Francine with a mixture of anger and concern.

"How did you get here? I left you at home!" Rose said furious.

She swiftly read the girl's timeline and saw her open the TARDIS door and sneak in after Rose had gone back inside of it. She then looked at her TARDIS accusingly.

"You let her in! I had the door locked so it must have been you. Why did you do that?" Rose asked her TARDIS.

"Who are you talking to?" Shareen asked Rose in confusion.

"The TARDIS. She let Francine inside. She wanted her to follow me here. I don't know why though." Rose said.

Rose turned to her TARDIS again and said in a reproving tone, "That was very reckless of you! You've endangered her by allowing her to come here!"

"Well this is a new one. Rose yelling at the TARDIS," Shareen said to Gwyneth with a grin.

"I should yell at her. I'm going to find out exactly what's going on if we're still alive after all of this," Rose said.

Rose turned to the TARDIS again and said, "Don't think that you won't get a slap from me either if I don't like what I find out!"

Shareen laughed at Rose's behavior while Colonel Mace, who had just arrived on the scene, walked up to her looking at her like she was insane.

"If you're quite done yelling at your car, Miss Tyler, we have a major oncoming threat to deal with," Mace said impatiently.

"It's not my car. It's my TARDIS. I'm letting her know that we're going to have words once this is over. My TARDIS is alive, Colonel. I'm not bonkers," Rose said defensively.

"I never said that you were. I'm well aware that your ship is sentient as hard as that is for me to wrap my mind around. I just wish that you'd stop wasting valuable time yelling at it when a malevolent alien is swiftly approaching this world," Mace said.

"I'm not wasting time, Colonel. I'm multi-tasking. While I'm yelling at the TARDIS, I'm also busy quickly thinking up a way to shut that portal in Sutekh's face before it's too late. That's one of the neat perks about being a Time Lady," Rose reassured him with a wide grin.

"What have you come up with then?" Mace asked her.

Rose held out her hand, and a small device appeared in it out of nowhere. She had summoned it from the pocket dimension that she sometimes placed things in when she wasn't using them. It was a Time Lord power that she rarely used.

"The good old dimension cannon should be able to do it. All I have to do is to reverse the polarity on it I think. That's an old trick of the Doctor's, you know," Rose said happily.

"Yes, so I've heard from the Brigadier," Mace said with a tone of patient tolerance.

Rose knew that the man found her behavior annoying, but she didn't care. She was who she was, and she wasn't changing for anyone. Why mess with perfection? She joked to herself.

She then rolled her eyes at her own thoughts as she realized that that sounded like something that the Doctor would say.

I'd better watch out, or I'm going to wind up like the Great Intelligence! Rose thought with a mischievous grin.

She quickly reversed the usual settings on the dimension cannon, and then activated the device. The portal started getting smaller, and Rose grinned in triumph. She had done it.

Sutekh silently gestured at the portal, and it quickly started returning to its original size. Rose cursed in Gallifreyan and increased the energy output to the dimension cannon so that the portal started shrinking once again.

"He's fighting it, but I think that I can still stop him in time," Rose said to Colonel Mace.

"I should probably get my soldiers ready to fight him in case you can't," Mace said.

"Fight him with what? He's an Osirian. He's so powerful that he can destroy entire planets without breaking a sweat. He could reduce your people to ashes with a stray thought, Colonel. It's best that you just get them out of here before they all get killed," Rose warned him.

"I appreciate your concern, Miss Tyler, but my soldiers are pledged to protect this planet with our lives from all possible threats to it no matter how powerful that they are. We won't run," Mace said determined.

"Nothing that you have will be able to affect him. Your bullets are going to be useless. You're throwing their lives away needlessly," Rose said passionately.

"We won't leave," Mace said firmly.

"You're either very brave or crazy then. I'd say that you were both. Not that I'm downing crazy, mind you. Sometimes crazy's good. It can come in handy sometimes to be a little crazy," Rose said with a look of admiration on her face.

Mace actually cracked a smile then as he said, "Thank you, Miss Tyler. I'll take that as a compliment."

"Good. That's the way that it was meant. Just let me handle things as much as possible if things go south. I love this planet too, Colonel; and nothing is happening to it on my watch," Rose said.

Mace nodded and smiled again at her. Rose was very amused by this. Not just one but two smiles in a row out of old Stone Face. She would have to tell the Doctor about this. He would never believe it.

Mace turned around then and went back to his soldiers as he gave them orders about what to do if Sutekh should emerge. Rose hoped that his instructions would turn out to be a waste of time.

The portal had now shrunk to half its original size, and Rose was certain now that she was very close to sealing Sutekh back up again. She increased the energy output to the dimension cannon to close the portal quicker.

The portal started closing much quicker now, and it was almost completely shut when Sutekh started to fight back again. Raw power started pouring forth from him and into the portal, and it quickly returned to its original size once again.

"Oh, no you don't!" Rose said as she continued the unusual game of tug of war that she and Sutekh had been playing by increasing the energy output on the dimension cannon to maximum.

Once more the portal started closing rapidly until it looked like a crack. Then just before it could close completely, the portal sprang back to full size once again; and Sutekh swiftly and violently emerged from it. He had made it through at last, and he immediately started attacking Rose as soon as he arrived there.

He held out his hand towards her, and she immediately felt like something was crushing her ribs in an invisible vice. She screamed out with sudden and immense pain, and then she transformed into the Bad Wolf and started dealing out her own punishment to the Osirian.

Sutekh was swiftly encased in a cage of golden energy that completely surrounded him, and then started shrinking. Now he was the one who was being crushed all over his body.

"See how you like it, mate! I don't like aggressive men, and you're definitely coming on pretty strong for this just being our first date," Rose joked.

"Impudent child! I will scatter you into atoms. You are nothing compared to me. I have been thinking a long time about my revenge on you, Bad Wolf. I promise you that it will be sweet!" Sutekh said as he struggled to get out of the Vortex energy prison that Rose had encased him in.

"Now you're starting to remind me of an old boyfriend of mine named Jimmy Stone. He was a major creep too. You'd like him," Rose said.

Sutekh finally burst out of the Vortex cage and blasted Rose with a massive beam of energy that sent her flying through the air and landing flat on her back several feet away. She got back on her feet in seconds and started blasting Sutekh immediately with her own golden energy bolts.

"Yeah, you definitely remind me of Jimmy Stone now!" Rose said.

"I will crush you! I will make this planet burn and boil. Then I will turn this entire solar system into a massive pile of debris and detritus circling around a burnt out sun!" Sutekh shouted as he continued to bombard Rose with wave after wave of energy attacks.

"My, aren't you the charmer? Do you sweet talk all of your dates like this, or is it just me?" Rose said with a chuckle.

"Why do you continue to prattle on so much, child? I am your death, Bad Wolf. You do not seem to grasp the full significance of your situation. I will not stop coming until you are less than nothing!" Sutekh screamed.

"Jimmy, is that you in that fright mask? If it is, take that silly thing off and stop mucking about!" Rose said with a seemingly serious tone to her voice which quickly turned into a giggle.

"Crush you! Smash you! Break your bones!" Sutekh said in a pure rage now. He was so angry now that he couldn't think in complete thoughts.

That was just what Rose was counting on. She was deliberately getting on his last nerve so that she would make him so angry that he wouldn't think straight. That was bound to make him make all kinds of stupid mistakes that she could take full advantage of.

"Come on, Jimmy. You're not fooling me. A bunch of people are going to jump out any minute now and say 'Gotcha!', aren't they? I mean you're really overdoing the psychotic lunatic part right now. You really need to tone it down. I'm just not buying your performance right now because you're too over the top," Rose said as she continued to giggle at him.

Sutekh rushed at her in a pure psychotic rage now with no kind of force field up whatsoever and totally left himself open to attack. As he rushed towards her, Rose started pushing him back towards the still open portal with every ounce of power at her command. She put everything that she had into her attack, and Sutekh started rapidly losing ground with each passing moment. He was being pushed further and further back toward the portal, and he seemed to be helpless to prevent it.

Then Sutekh reached out to Rose with a beam of energy and suddenly pulled her toward him in the blink of an eye. She had her arm enclosed in the vice like grip of his hand, and she couldn't break free of it. Sutekh took her and swung her towards the portal. Rose went flying straight inside of it, and Sutekh closed it on her!

"Now, little Wolf, this planet is mine! I will so enjoy killing each and every one of your precious little humans starting with all of you!" Sutekh said as he gazed at the UNIT soldiers.

"Now do you wish that you had stayed at home?" Shareen said to Francine.

"I'm starting to, yeah. This isn't fun anymore," Francine admitted as she started to shake.

"When was it ever fun?" Shareen asked.

"Open fire!" Colonel Mace ordered his troops.

As the UNIT soldiers started to attack Sutekh, the evil Osirian laughed at their pitiful display of strength. He incinerated the entire front line of soldiers with a massive burst of flame that came from the palm of his outstretched hand!

"Feel the might of Sutekh and despair!" Sutekh said as he continued to laugh at the soldiers.

Sutekh then screamed as his body started being compressed down further and further. He was slowly being shrunken, and he seemed to be losing an inch in height by the moment.

"Who dares?!" Sutekh shouted.

"The name's Koschei, but you may call me Master!" a voice said from behind Sutekh.

**Next: Sutekh versus Koschei for the fate of the Earth. Now there's a switch! Plus what is happening to Rose while all of this is going on? Find out in the next chapter.**


	60. Chapter 60

CHAPTER 60

I do not own Doctor Who, and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews!**

It was lucky for the idiots at UNIT that he had come along when he did Koschei thought to himself. He was so far keeping the rest of them alive for the moment. He had been trying to find Arkytior and had been tracking her TARDIS down. He had just found her when he saw her being thrown into the portal by Sutekh. He had decided to act when Sutekh started killing people. He knew that Arkytior wouldn't like it if he didn't.

Koschei just kept shrinking Sutekh down further and further with his Tissue Compression Eliminator. He hadn't used this old thing on a regular basis in a long time. He was filled with a sense of nostalgia now as he used it on the last of the Osirians.

"I figured that it was about time that someone cut you down to size," Koschei quipped.

"Your weapon will be of no use against me. I can undo its effects quite easily," Sutekh said as he blasted the TCE with a bolt of energy and fried it instantly.

Sutekh then quickly resumed her normal height and started attacking Koschei with one energy bolt after another in rapid succession. Koschei was ready for him, however, and he easily dodged and ducked each bolt as quickly as they came. He was no amateur to the ways of war after all. He had been in numerous battles in his long life plus he had been in the Time War.

"That's too bad! I so wanted a Sutekh doll for my collection," Koschei joked.

Koschei pulled out his laser screwdriver and started firing its yellow beam back at the Osirian as he evaded all of his attacks. This was getting neither one of them anywhere he soon realized. They were both just endlessly blasting away at each other with neither one of them scoring a hit.

He would have to pull something out of his bag of tricks in order to gain an advantage. He pulled a grenade out of one of his bigger on the inside pockets and pulled the pin as he shouted, "Here, catch!"

Koschei threw the grenade straight at Sutekh, and it exploded as soon as it got near his face. The explosion blinded the Osirian for a moment just as Koschei had wanted, and he then used this opportunity to blast Sutekh at point blank range with the full power of his laser screwdriver.

Sutekh screamed in agony and shouted, "I will turn you into dust, Time Lord!"

"You're quite the conversationalist, aren't you? I can't imagine why there isn't a Mrs. Sutekh!" Koschei said.

His flippant words were covering up his true feelings, however. Koschei winced as he realized that all he had done was make Sutekh mad. He was definitely going to need some help here. Where are you, Arkytior? He thought to himself.

Inside the Vortex, Rose was having troubles of her own as she was being attacked by thousands upon thousands of chronovores that lived there. They had apparently become Sutekh's servants during his time living here. Evidently he had instructed them to kill her so that she could never return back to Earth and stop him.

The chronovores fed off of the history of others, and they especially loved Time Lords because they had so much of it. If they fed off of Rose, she would cease to exist instantly. She had been keeping them back so far, but she wasn't sure if even she could fight off so many of them forever even as the Bad Wolf.

Rose kept trying to control the chronovores through her link to the Vortex that made her naturally able to control all creatures that were a part of it, but it just wasn't working so far. It seemed that Sutekh had altered the minds of these particular chronovores with his power so that they would always stay obedient to him no matter what.

She would need to overcome them all with brute force somehow if she was to survive. She only knew of one sure way to do that though, but it was by doing something that she really didn't want to do because it frightened her. She knew that she might never be the same again.

As Rose started to feel herself losing the battle to the superior numbers of the chronovores, she knew that she would have to do whatever it took to survive. She crossed her fingers and said a quiet apology to the Doctor just in case she was never able to become herself again as she transformed into her ultimate form once more. She became pure Vortex energy and lost all human thought and emotion as she did so.

The pure Bad Wolf now annihilated all of the chronovores without mercy with her greatly increased powers and easily protected herself from their assaults as she did so. She was the most powerful that she had ever been because she was able to feed directly off of the energy of the Vortex itself by being here right in the heart of it.

Soon the chronovores had all been destroyed, and Bad Wolf felt nothing for them. She had no feelings for anyone or anything. She only existed to stop chaos and destruction, and she would do it by whatever means necessary without hesitation.

Having taken care of all possible threats to her in the Vortex, she returned back to Earth to stop Sutekh once and for all. She would not leave him free to destroy the universe. She would just have to completely and utterly destroy him forever now. He was too dangerous to show any mercy to. Not that she would ever show mercy to her enemies in this form anyway.

The Bad Wolf emerged from the Vortex to see Koschei fighting a desperate battle against Sutekh in order to protect the Earth. She would have considered Koschei too dangerous to allow him to exist either, but apparently she was mistaken. Rose Tyler had been right for once. Perhaps Rose Tyler should be allowed some input in future decisions after all. She would have to consider it.

"Oh, how very wonderful of you! You mean you're going to allow stupid little me to actually speak to you?" said a voice that only Bad Wolf could hear.

Bad Wolf was surprised. She had been able to suppress Rose Tyler before. This time though was different.

"That's right. I'm in your head this time. I am you so you need to listen to me. We need to work together in order to defeat Sutekh and save the Earth," Rose said to her other self.

Bad Wolf tried to deny her entry into her mind at first, but she eventually gave up and allowed her inside. She knew deep down that Rose was right. Rose then took total control of her ultimate form for the first time. It was an incredible feeling. She had thought that she possessed power before, but that had been nothing compared to this.

Rose now confronted Sutekh who it seemed had worn Koschei down. Koschei had fallen to the ground in exhaustion and couldn't move. He seemed to be awaiting death now as he closed his eyes and said a name.

Rose smiled as he knew that the owner of that name would probably be furious at him for letting himself get into this position. Then she would belt him one for being so stupid. She wouldn't be too fond of Rose either if she didn't try to save him.

"Sutekh, I think that you're going to have to let Koschei go. Marissa already owns the right to clean his clock. You're just going to have to settle with fighting with me instead," Rose said.

Sutekh and Koschei both looked at her new form with shocked expressions as did everyone else around them. None of them had been there the first time that she had transformed like this. They all knew that it was her though by her voice which she kept as much like her regular voice as possible. She wanted everyone to know that it was still her in charge.

"Ari! You finally made it," Koschei said in relief.

"I couldn't let anything happen to you. You know that. Marissa would get very angry at me. Now Marissa when she's mad is scary. I'd rather fight a hundred Sutekhs than have to face one mad Marissa," Rose said laughing.

"Tell me about it," Koschei said, being completely serious.

"Always the merry little comedian, aren't you? I find nothing that you say even remotely humorous," Sutekh said as he began to attack her with multiple energy bolts.

"That's because you're dull, Sutekh. Dry, boring, and dull! If you weren't, you'd realize what quality material that I'm putting out here for your amusement. I mean this could be a dry ordinary fight sure, but I'm sprucing it up for you. I've gone to all of this trouble to make our fight memorable with good snappy repartee, and do you appreciate it? No!" Rose babbled as she easily deflected his attacks.

"Rose, listen to yourself talk. You sound just like the Doctor now!" Shareen said.

"I know. Sometimes that's not such a bad thing though," Rose said in a jubilant voice

"She's been infected at last. I've lost her," Shareen said with a smile.

She had been terrified before; but now that Rose was back, she felt totally safe again. She was even able to joke with her because she had faith that Rose wouldn't let anyone be in any real danger.

"I'll have to purify myself somehow. I need to exorcise the Doctor from my brain. How should I do that, do you think?" Rose asked as she giggled. She also easily deflected more attacks from Sutekh onto him now and caused him to scream out in frustration.

"By punching this freak's lights out?" Francine offered.

"I'm not listening to you, young lady. I'm still furious with you for putting yourself in danger," Rose said.

As she spoke, she closed her hand into a fist; and Sutekh started being mashed flatter than a pancake. He seemed to be more annoyed than in pain though.

"You sound like a mom now!" Francine said with a frown.

"That's because I am a mom. I know I'm hip, cool, and with it most of the time; but I'm still a mom too," Rose said.

Sutekh had started fighting back against Rose's attack now, and he was quickly back to his normal form once again. He then unleashed an attack of his own against Rose as he tried to absorb some of her energy from her in an attempt to force her to change back to her regular form.

"Seriously, Rose. You've been hanging around the Doctor way too long," Shareen said.

"I'm forced to agree with Miss Annoying over there for once. The Doctor is rotting your brain," Koschei said.

"Koschei and Shareen actually agree on something?! Stop the presses! It must be one of those signs of the apocalypse that you're always hearing about. Do you want power, Sutekh? Take it!" Rose said as she began to force feed Sutekh more and more energy from herself.

She continued to feed Sutekh energy straight from the Vortex itself. She could do this forever because she was drawing upon the Vortex's infinite supply of it. She kept increasing the energy output more and more until she was pouring enough energy to destroy a planet and then some straight into Sutekh's body.

"Too . . . much! I . . . can't . . . I," Sutekh said in a nauseated voice.

"What's that? You say you want more?" Rose said with an amused tone in her voice.

Rose increased the power to as much as she dared. She could have poured much more into Sutekh if she had wished, but it might endanger the people standing around her if she were to do so because she wasn't sure that she would be able to safely keep it contained to a small area and away from the others. Still what she was pouring into Sutekh now was enough power to destroy half a solar system so that was quite enough.

Sutekh began to start screaming as his body began to dissolve at last. Rose started to let up on him, but she was then quickly replaced by the Bad Wolf again.

"You would show mercy where none is deserved or warranted. This cannot be allowed. The enemy must be totally destroyed without qualms," The Bad Wolf said.

Shareen started to shake as she knew that that wasn't Rose speaking anymore. What was going on?

"That is the Bad Wolf speaking. It is Miss Rose without her compassion, mercy, or emotional attachments. It is pure undiluted destruction towards anyone who it is unleashed against. Her personality no longer controls it now. She was only able to for a short time," Gwyneth explained.

She knew all about it because she knew Rose from the future. She knew all about what Rose could and couldn't do because of this. Sometimes she even knew more than Rose herself because she had witnessed Rose do things in the future that she hadn't even considered doing yet or still wasn't able to do at this point in time.

"Will she ever be able to switch back to normal?" Francine asked with concern.

Gwyneth said nothing. She couldn't say anything, or she would risk altering the future.

"Please tell me!" Francine asked upset.

"She can't. If she does, then it violates the Laws of Time," Koschei explained.

"Forget about some stupid laws. Rose is more important than any stupid laws," Francine said in sudden anger.

"I agree wholeheartedly. There was a time when I would have forced the information out of her, but I'm not that person anymore. We'll just have to hope that Rose is strong enough to come back from this by herself," Koschei said with undisguised worry in his voice.

Sutekh began to dissolve into atoms and soon disappeared with one last agonizing scream. He was gone now. He had been dispersed to the far corners of the universe.

The Bad Wolf turned to look at the others for a moment, and then she quickly looked away as if they no longer mattered to her.

"Rose? Please come back!" Francine said as tears started to flow from her eyes.

The Bad Wolf turned to look at her with her head cocked to the side for a moment as if she recognized her. Then she looked away again and vanished in a burst of golden energy.

"No! No! Rose!" Francine screamed.

She kept screaming Rose's name over and over again, but it didn't matter. Neither the Bad Wolf nor Rose returned to answer her.

Francine fell to her knees on the ground and continued to beg Rose to return over and over again.

"Please, you've just begun to show me the wonders of the universe. Don't go," Francine pleaded.

Rose reappeared as herself once again and hugged Francine to her tightly. They were both crying now. The others breathed out a sense of relief at her return to normal.

"Don't ever do that again!" Francine shouted at her.

"I won't. I didn't want to this time, but I would have died if I hadn't. Sutekh had me in a trap," Rose said.

"I don't care. Find another way to save yourself from now on," Francine said.

"I won't ever do that again. This time has sworn me off of it for good. If I stop being Rose, I'm no good to anyone. I wish that I could use my full power without risking that happening. Maybe someday I'll find a way around that," Rose speculated.

Gwyneth could only smile at that. If she only knew what was coming soon. She wished that she could warn her because she hated to think of all of that happening to her. She knew that it was necessary though.

"I see that you saved the day again, Miss Tyler. Congratulations. We all owe you an enormous debt yet again," Colonel Mace said.

"Let me pay it back to you then," Rose said as she restored the disintegrated UNIT troops back to life. Being able to see the past could come in handy sometimes when it came to fixing things that went horribly wrong like that.

Colonel Mace looked at her with amazement. He hadn't known that she could do that. It wasn't in UNIT's records on her. Martha had never told them out of respect for Rose's privacy. Plus she didn't know if they would believe it.

"I think that we're even now," Rose said with a warm smile.

"Yes, quite," Colonel Mace managed to say. He was rendered almost speechless by what she had just done.

Malcolm then walked up to them and said, "She's amazing, isn't she? Rose Tyler is just fantastic!"

Rose looked at him funny for a minute and laughed. She hadn't heard that in a while. She would have to see if she could get the Doctor to start saying that word again. She missed it.

Malcolm was caught completely by surprise when Rose walked over to him and kissed him on the cheek. He just stood there with his mouth wide open and unable to speak for a minute.

"That was for reminding me of some fond memories from my past," Rose said with a smile.

Rose and the others said their good byes to UNIT then and got into Rose's TARDIS.

"I'm taking you home, Francine. If anything had happened to you, it would have been my fault!" Rose said.

"I just brought you back. You would have been gone forever if not for me," Francine said.

"I know. Thank you! That's why the TARDIS let you in you know. At least that's probably part of the reason anyway. She knew that I would need you," Rose said.

"Yes, you did need me. So why are you sending me home?" Francine asked with sad eyes.

"I don't want anything to happen to you. You're not staying with me because you're too young, and that's final. I will give you one trip though because I owe you a trip to go shopping after all. I think I'll take you shopping in Barcelona," Rose said with a wide grin.

"Is that another planet?" Francine asked hopefully.

When Rose nodded, Francine screamed with joy and hugged her tightly. Rose couldn't help but love her enthusiasm. She almost wished that she could take her traveling with her, but she didn't dare risk it.

Koschei took her aside just before she dematerialized the TARDIS and said, "There's something that I need to talk to you about later."

Rose nodded in silent agreement, and then she entered in the coordinates for Barcelona. They entered the Vortex moments later.

As the TARDIS dematerialized, Malcolm suddenly snapped out of his trance. A huge smile covered his entire face as what had just happened fully hit him for the first time.

"I was kissed on the cheek by Rose Tyler!" Malcolm said as he began jumping up and down with joy.

Colonel Mace just shook his head at the man. He agreed that Rose Tyler was a remarkable woman, but you had to show proper decorum in situations like this. You couldn't go getting all emotional if you were going to be a proper member of UNIT.

The smile on Mace's face that didn't leave it for over an hour told a different story though.

**Next: What does Koschei want to talk to Rose about? Find out in the next chapter.**


	61. Chapter 61

CHAPTER 61

I do not own Doctor Who, and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews!**

**Needless to say this story takes place before recent chapters of War of the Guardians.**

From the look that Koschei was giving her, Rose knew that something horrible had happened. It was something that he needed to tell her about alone apparently, or he would have already talked to her about it.

As soon as the TARDIS landed on Barcelona, Rose told Shareen to take Francine and Gwyneth on a shopping spree and gave them some money. Shareen knew something was wrong immediately and looked at her funny.

"You're not shopping on Barcelona?!" Shareen asked in disbelief.

"I'll be along later. Don't worry about it," Rose said with a smile.

"I want to go with you. It'll be more fun with you along," Francine said in a disappointed voice.

"I'll come along in a little while. I promise," Rose said.

Francine and Shareen both shrugged in defeat, and they took Gwyneth out into the shops with them. Gwyneth had no real desire to shop, but she did it anyway. She knew that Rose was going to want some privacy soon enough.

"Okay, what's up?" Rose asked Koschei as soon as they were in the TARDIS alone.

"They found the TARDIS of the Metacrisis Doctor or Doctor Donald Noble as he called himself drifting without a crew not far away from Gallifrey. They searched and searched, but it was totally empty," Koschei said.

"What?" Rose asked in complete shock.

"I'm sorry! They were going to send someone from the High Council to tell you about it, but I convinced them to let me do it. I thought it would be better if it came from me instead of a stranger," Koschei said with sympathy on his face.

"How did you find out about it?" Rose asked.

"I have my ways. That doesn't matter. What matters is that they couldn't find him or anyone else on board it. They searched his TARDIS' records, and they did found this however. It's the only evidence that they have that shows what happened. It doesn't provide all the answers that you'll want though." Koschei said.

He handed her a disc that she hesitantly put in her TARDIS console. It started to play, and it began to show Rose a scene of the Metacrisis with Joan Redfern in his console room.*

"So, how did you love facing off against Daleks? I thought it wasn't so bad for a first time Dalek experience," the Metacrisis said with a cheery grin on his face.

"Not so bad?! There were half a dozen metal monsters shooting death rays at me and screaming that they wanted to kill me in loud voices!" Joan said as she looked at him like he was crazy.

"Yeahhh but it could have been much worse," the Metacrisis said with that same smile on his face.

"How?" Joan asked incredulously.

"There could have been more of them. They usually come somewhere in large groups you know. Six Daleks is nothing. I can handle six Daleks in my sleep! I think one time I did actually. At least that's what Sarah Jane once told me. Or him anyway," the Metacrisis said the last sentence with a sad look on his face. He sometimes forgot that he wasn't the original Doctor even now.

"Hey! Don't do that. You are him. You're him in every way that matters and in some ways you're like my John too. In fact, I'd say that you're much more like my John than he will ever be. You have nothing to be sad about. Do you hear me?" Joan said in a comforting tone.

He smiled at her then, and they both kissed each other passionately. It was obvious to Rose that they were in love. She was so happy for him, and yet terrified at the same time because she didn't know what was going to happen next on the disc. She was tempted to use Bad Wolf to find out but decided against it. For right now, she wanted to see the Metacrisis like this. She wanted to be in this moment with him. She wished that it hadn't had to end for him.

The disc showed them kissing for half a minute more, and then a voice interrupted them. It seemed to come from all around the TARDIS as it said, "Hello, Doctor! I too think that you are much more like the original than you think. In fact, you are so much like him that I am willing to bet that you have the same darkness within you as well. Let's find out!"

The Shadow appeared inside of the TARDIS then, and Rose wanted to scream a warning to the Metacrisis and disintegrate the Shadow on the spot. She wanted to protect her friend from what she knew was coming. She couldn't do anything though. She knew that whatever she was watching now had already happened. It was a fixed point in time now, and there was nothing that she could do about it. It made her furious, and she had turned into the Bad Wolf without even realizing it as she watched the video.

Koschei could see her glowing now and knew that she becoming more and more upset. He just hoped that she didn't do something destructive without realizing it. He knew that she had much better control of her powers these days, but she was still only human in her mental processes. She still thought and felt like Rose Tyler, and that could be very dangerous when it came to controlling a power like the Bad Wolf that seemed to be in tune to and to react very strongly to her emotional states.

The Shadow gestured at Joan Redfern, and then she screamed in soul crushing agony as she began to slowly change back into the Carrionite Sister Pestilence. She was doing her best to fight it and to hold onto herself, but the Shadow's power was just too strong. He was burying her beneath the Carrionite persona that had been created to replace her. She had hoped that it was gone for good, but it must have still been deep inside of her somewhere waiting.

The Metacrisis pulled out his sonic screwdriver and attacked the Shadow with it, but the malevolent being just laughed at him and shoved him against the wall with a telekinetic attack. He then pinned him there by making a big piece of coral break off from the TARDIS and fall on top of him.

"No! Leave her alone!" the Metacrisis cried out in pain as he had to watch it happen without being able to stop it.

"I . . . love . . . you!" Joan managed to say with tears running down her cheeks just before the transformation was finally completed.

Then Joan Redfern was gone, and her Carrionite alter ego had taken control of her body once more. She looked at the Metacrisis with cold dispassionate eyes and laughed at him. She felt nothing for this man.

"Joan? Fight it! You have to still be in there. You have to," the Metacrisis said as he started to break down.

"Sorry. There is no Joan. She's gone for good. I'm Sister Pestilence," the Carrionite said mocking him.

"Don't tell me that there isn't some small part of you that doesn't feel something for me. There has to be," the Metacrisis said with the last shred of hope still inside of him.

"Let me think for a minute," Sister Pestilence said with a mocking smile on her face.

She pretended to be thinking it over; and then she said, "Nope! Not a thing! Why would I want a big nothing like you? You're just a shadowy reflection of the real thing. You're not even a person! You're just a copy of someone else and a badly done one at that."

"SHUT UP!" Rose raged at the image.

The TARDIS console room started to explode around her, and Koschei edged towards the door. He remembered what happened whenever she lost control like this.

Rose caught his movement out of the corner of her eye and said reassuringly, "It's alright. I'm okay now."

"I certainly hope so," Koschei said with a grin.

Rose waved her hand, and the console room was instantly fixed. Then she steeled herself as she finished watching the video. She was resolved to keep better control of herself in the future.

It was very hard to keep control though when she saw her friend falling apart in front of her. His last traces of hope vanished from his eyes as Sister Pestilence continued to laugh at him. He stopped listening to her taunts and retreated into himself.

Rose wished that she could been there to tell him that it wasn't true. She hated having to watch this, but she forced herself to. She had to know what had happened to him.

"I want to get out of her. This is where she wanted to stay. There are too many of her memories tied up in this place," Sister Pestilence said to the Shadow.

"Gladly, my dear! I think I know the perfect place to send you to. You'll have a fun time there I'm sure," The Shadow said.

He gestured at her and she disappeared in a burst of dark energy. Unknown to both of them, he had just sent her to an impromptu meeting with Jenny Tyler. He would use her to make Jenny pay for not becoming his master's new body.**

He then focused his attention to the Metacrisis. He moved toward the still unmoving man and began to laugh. His hands started to glow with dark energy. He was just about to do something to him when he seemed to remember that he was being recorded.

He looked towards the TARDIS console and said, "Oh, no. You're just going to have to wonder what happens next, Miss Tyler!"

He then aimed a blast of dark energy right at the screen, and it turned to black for a moment before the recording stopped completely. Rose removed the disc from her console and burnt it into sludge in her hand.

"I really needed to give that back to the High Council but never mind. I'll tell them that you wanted to keep it," Koschei said with a grin.

Rose gestured, and the sludge reformed itself into a disc again. She then gave it back to Koschei with a sheepish look on her face.

"Sorry," she said.

"It's fine. I understand. Are you okay?" Koschei said.

"Yeah, I'm fine. A man I knew for years and was a close friend to may have just been killed. Other than that, I'm just wonderful!" Rose said as she was doing her best to keep from breaking down in front of him.

"I always know when you're lying. You're a terrible liar," Koschei said.

"I need to know what happened. I can't see it with Bad Wolf. The Shadow is keeping me from seeing it," Rose said as she started to break.

"Is there anything that I can do?" Koschei asked with sympathy.

Rose shook her head as she said, "Thank you for telling me about this. Does the Doctor know?"

"No. No one knows outside of us and the High Council. The President decided to keep it a secret for now so as not to alarm anyone. They wanted to tell you of course because of your connection to him," Koschei said.

"I need to be alone right now. Tell the others I'll be back soon," Rose said.

Koschei nodded and left. He had a feeling he didn't want to see what happened next anyway.

Rose dematerialized her TARDIS and soon arrived near a dying star and its now dead solar system. She emerged from her TARDIS after she had programmed it to return back to Barcelona.

She scanned the entire solar system to make sure that it was as lifeless as it looked, and then when she knew that it was, she began to do something that she had never done before.

She gestured at the nearest planet to her and finally unleashed a massive blast of energy at it. It exploded into an enormous cloud of rock, dust, and ash; and she flew through this debris as she destroyed the next planet and then the next. She then silently screamed in pain and frustration and destroyed the rest of the solar system in one massive burst of power!

After watching what she had done with immense sadness and feeling no better inside, she then teleported to the inside of the Doctor's TARDIS and took him completely by surprise with her arrival. He knew that something was wrong the minute that she arrived.

"Rose, what's wrong?" the Doctor asked.

"Something's happened to Donald. I can't find him. The Shadow took him, and I don't know where he is. He's blocking me from finding him. I don't know what to do. All of this power, and I can't . . ." Rose then broke down at last and began to cry uncontrollably.

The Doctor put his arms around her, and she continued to cry on his shoulder. She couldn't stop. The floodgates had been unleashed at last. She was so angry at herself for not being able to help her friend and to keep his life from being destroyed. She was so angry that she couldn't have stopped the Shadow in the first place so that this would have never happened. She was so angry that she was proving to be so useless ever since he had reemerged. She had had all that she could take, and she just couldn't hold it all in anymore.

She was so glad that the Doctor was there. If he hadn't have been, she didn't know if she could have made it or not. If anything ever happened to the Doctor, she didn't know what she would do.

Somewhere Rose's distress was being observed, and her thoughts were being read by someone who felt very sorry for what she was going through and for what she knew that Rose would have to continue to go through in the future.

The Observer said in response to Rose's thoughts, "You will do what you always do, my friend. You will fight on, and you will persevere. You won't quit fighting until you die. Unfortunately, that day is coming fast upon you; and when you do die, the entire universe will shudder. On that day, the universe will have no one left to protect it from the wrath of the gods!"

***For the story on how the Metacrisis Doctor wound up with Joan Redfern, you can read Bad Wolves Chapters 1 - 9. **

****See current chapters of Jenny Tyler, Time's Angel.**

**Next: Rose gets a blast from her past as she runs across a very familiar woman. Could it really be? Rose meets Arkytior, and neither of them is too happy about it! Get ready for the fireworks!**


	62. Chapter 62

CHAPTER 62

I do not own Doctor Who, and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews!**

**Needless to say this story takes place before recent chapters of War of the Guardians.**

Rose had decided to take a break from her usual hectic life and just enjoy herself somewhere for a change. She was determined to just do something normal and fun for once after the emotional roller coaster that she had just been through with the disappearance of the Metacrisis Doctor. She decided that she was going to go on a vacation. The universe could get along just fine without her for a while. It had long before she had opened that fob watch after all.

She had invited all of her friends to go with her and was glad that so many of them had been able to show up. Going with her today was Shareen, Mickey, Amy, Francine, and Penny. Gwyneth had decided to sleep in. She really wanted to have a good time today and make herself feel better about life in general. She had tried and tried to find Donald until it had almost driven her insane, and now she just had to take a break from it for her own mental stability.

"So, where are we going for this great and wonderful vacation that you have planned?" Shareen asked.

"Do I note a touch of sarcasm there?" Rose asked with a grin.

"Yes, you certainly do. You don't go on normal vacations. We're going to end up getting involved in some kind of trouble or an alien invasion or something else bad within the first five minutes. You know we are!" Shareen said.

"No, this time I'm going to the one place where I know nothing bad ever happens," Rose said.

"Where is that? The Land of Make Believe?" Shareen said sarcastically.

"The Eye of Orion. It's the most restful and peaceful place in the universe. No one lives there and hardly anyone ever goes there. It's a perfect place to get away from it all. The Doctor and I used to go there all the time when I was younger," Rose said with a fond look of remembrance on her face.

"This you or the other you?" Shareen asked curiously.

"Arkytior. The Doctor kept promising to take me to it when I was his companion, but he never did. Just like Barcelona. He never could go where he wanted to, or at least that's what he told me then anyway," Rose said with exasperation.

"Why doesn't he just take you now?" Shareen asked.

"He still can't find it apparently. Funny how we always managed to get here back in the old days from Gallifrey though," Rose said.

"So do you think that you can find it then?" Shareen asked.

"Of course I can. Unlike the Doctor, I actually have a very good sense of direction, and I know what I'm doing. I passed my driving test on the first try and without demolishing a thing," Rose said with a smile.

Shareen laughed a little as she remembered Rose's story about the Doctor's many attempts to pass his TARDIS driving test. She always thought of that story every time that she needed a good laugh after a particularly hard day.

"You wouldn't think that it was funny if you had been there. He almost hit me one time when he crashed his test TARDIS. I was so tempted to tell the High Council to just toss him out of the Academy after that happened," Amy said grumpily.

"You liar! You never would have done that. You love the Doctor too much to stab him in the back like that," Rose said laughing.

"I said I was tempted. I didn't say that I would have actually done it. You're right. I would never do that to him," Amy admitted.

"That's so weird even now to hear you two talk like old friends," Shareen said.

"You think it's weird?! Try being me. I still think of myself as Amy Pond, and yet I have these memories of being someone else that was one of her best friends. I barely know Rose Tyler, but I know Arkytior as if she was my own sister. That's beyond weird to have two separate lives in your head and to know that they're both yours," Amy said.

"I'm glad to hear you talk about it like that. Rose never talks about it at all. She acts like Arkytior never existed most of the time," Shareen said.

"I can see why. That wasn't a happy time of her life. She was always miserable, and I never knew why. Now I know that it was because of the Bad Wolf," Amy said.

"So she didn't talk to her friends about her problems then either," Shareen noted.

"No, not the worst of them," Amy said.

"You know it's nice that the two of you can get together and talk about me like this. I invite you to come with me in order to lift my spirits, and all you do is talk about my faults instead. Thanks," Rose said sadly.

"I'm sorry," Shareen said.

"So am I. We didn't mean anything by it," Amy said.

"It's okay. You're right though. I should talk to my friends more about it when things are bothering me," Rose acknowledged.

The TARDIS materialized on the Eye of Orion and cut short Rose's thoughts. She stepped out into the tranquil, peaceful atmosphere there and smiled. Here was a place where she could finally let go of her troubles and toss away her cares at last.

It was full of trees and mist, and there was absolutely no noise at all. It had a charged atmosphere just like you would feel after it had been raining. Rose had always thought of this place as paradise when she was young, and she had retreated to it whenever she was troubled about anything. Usually she would come here alone. Back then she had preferred that. Now however she was a different person, and she was glad that she had her friends with her this time to enjoy this place with her.

"Hey, I thought that you said that no one else ever came here," Penny said as she pointed to a lone figure sitting on a rock in the distance.

"I said hardly anyone comes here. Just ignore them. They're probably just here to relax just like us," Rose said.

Mickey gasped as he recognized the figure on the rock. He had seen her once before and would know her anywhere.

"Rose, I think that you really need to come and take a look at that person over there," Mickey said.

"Why? What do they have to do with me?" Rose asked confused.

"You'll see," Mickey said.

Rose got closer to where she could now see that the figure on the rock was a young woman with bright red hair. It was a woman that she knew all too well. It was Arkytior!

"Isn't that you?" Mickey asked with his jaw open.

"Yes. I'm afraid so," Rose said with a loud sigh.

"How could that be you? She looks nothing like you," Francine asked.

"There's this thing that my people do when we're dying called regeneration. We change every cell in our bodies and become a new person but with the same memories and basic personality," Rose explained.

"She looks so different though. How could that possibly be you?" Francine asked perplexed.

"It is. Trust me," Rose said.

"I would hate that. I wouldn't want to become someone else. I'm happy just being me," Francine said.

Amy looked at her sadly. She feared that she would never get her sister back. She wanted her to be happy, but she missed her too. Being here with her like this only made things worse. She started to wish that she hadn't come.

Francine seemed to like Rose a lot more than she liked her, and she couldn't understand why. Selene and Arkytior had been good friends, but they had never been as close as Francine and Rose had become.

She found herself actually being jealous of Rose for taking her sister's attention away. She knew that it wasn't Rose's fault though. Rose had nothing to do with who Francine did or didn't want to spend time with.

"Are you okay? You look so upset," Francine asked Amy.

Amy smiled then in gratitude at her attention as she said, "I'm just fine. Don't worry."

Francine then hugged Amy tightly for a minute, and Amy returned the hug. Maybe a part of Francine did remember her Amy thought to herself hopefully.

"I hope that whatever's bothering you gets better," Francine said with a smile.

"I hope so too. It seems to be getting better already," Amy said with a happier feeling in her heart.

"Good. If you ever need to talk about anything, you could always talk to me," Francine offered.

"Thank you. I might take you up on that sometime," Amy said.

Rose smiled at the two of them. She was so glad that they were finally starting to bond. Maybe Selene might return yet. Stranger things had happened after all.

"So that's you? She looks so different and acts different too. I do notice that she has similar movements and actions to you though," Shareen said as she observed Arkytior very closely.

"The more I watch her, the more I can tell that she is you. It's just like you're sitting over there," Penny said.

"I am. She is me," Rose said with a smirk.

"You know what I mean. It's so odd though, isn't it? How do you get used to being another person after you've changed? I just don't understand how that could not freak you out. Wouldn't you be dying to go back to being the original you?" Penny asked curiously.

"Not me. I wouldn't go back to being my past self for anything," Rose said.

"Same here," Amy agreed about the circumstances of her own life.

"What about when this you dies though? I mean I understand that probably won't happen for a long time, but still one day you won't be Rose anymore, will you? Won't you hate to let that part of yourself go? I know how much you value your humanity," Penny asked.

"I won't have to," Rose said.

"What do you mean by that?" Mickey asked curiously.

"I don't want to ever stop being Rose Tyler. That's who I am now. I've locked myself into this particular body forever, Mickey, using the power of the Bad Wolf. I rewrote my entire body so that I no longer regenerate like other Time Lords do. The next time I regenerate, I won't become a new person. I'll just be me again. I don't want to change. I want to stay me. I'm happy in this form so why would I change it?" Rose asked.

"You can do that? I thought Time Lords had to change when they regenerated," Mickey asked with surprise.

"The other Time Lords have to change, but I don't thanks to Bad Wolf. I'm far more than just another Time Lord after all," Rose said.

"You scare me when you talk like that. I still wonder sometimes if you're really Rose or just think that you are," Mickey said.

Rose glared at him with sudden anger as she said, "I thought that we had already settled this once before. Do I have to slap you?"

"Okay, you're Rose! I know that you're Rose. It's just that I can't picture the person that I used to know talking all cosmic like that," Mickey said.

"I'm Rose with bits and pieces of the Bad Wolf and Arkytior added on. It doesn't mean that I'm not her though," Rose said defensively.

Mickey looked all crestfallen at his earlier comment, and Rose smiled at him warmly. She hugged him tightly in forgiveness.

She had to admit that sometimes it was hard for her to believe that she was still the same person either after all of the changes that she had gone through recently but she was. She knew that she was. She could never conclusively prove it, but she knew in her heart that she was still Rose Tyler; and that would never change. Not even if she died.

She was thinking of regeneration of course, but she never thought about what would happen if she ever died for real. Would she still be Rose Tyler then if she somehow managed to return? Or would what came back be someone else entirely and forever changed by the experience?

Rose and her friends had their trip interrupted as Arkytior finally noticed them watching her at last. She looked at them in anger and started towards them in a furious mood.

"She's coming up here. She looks like she wants to kill someone," Penny said in a worried tone.

"I thought you said that the first you was shy and never talked much to people," Shareen said.

"I was. When I was very angry though, I tended to lose my shyness sometimes. When I was really mad, I would just cut loose and unleash my anger until I calmed down again. It didn't happen often; but when it did, people used to run from me," Rose said with a look of embarrassment.

"So some things never change then?" Mickey joked.

"You really are looking to get slapped, aren't you?" Rose threatened.

Mickey just smiled at her, and Rose smiled back to show that she didn't really mean it. She knew that he liked to wind her up. He had been doing that to her all of Rose's life. They were just like brother and sister sometimes in the way that they liked to fight with each other.

"She's really mad about something. Maybe I should get out of here. I'm liable to get mad too and start fighting back with her. She doesn't need to see me anyway because she'll know who I am and that will give her knowledge about the future," Amy said with a distressed look on her face.

"I don't understand. I don't remember this ever happening," Rose said.

"Time can be rewritten?" Shareen offered.

"We'll have to be very careful about what we say here today," Amy reminded everyone.

Arkytior finally reached them at last, and she began yelling immediately as soon as she got within shouting distance of them all.

"Why are you all standing here staring at me like that? Can't I have any peace even out here? Huh? I came here to be able to sit and think in private, and I can't even have that. Even here I can't find any peace!" Arkytior shouted.

"Calm down. No one's here to bother you. We came here for some peace too. Just go back to what you were doing," Rose said to her past self.

"Yeah, sure! I'm sure that I'll be able to do that with all of you over here staring at me. Right!" Arkytior said in a furious tone.

"What are you really mad about? It's not about us," Rose said in a knowing tone.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Blondie. I'm mad about being stared at and spied on in my special spot. That's what I'm mad about," Arkytior said.

"No, you're not. You're angry about something else and taking it out on us because we're the most convenient targets. You would normally hold all the anger in and never say a word, but since we're here and you're not likely to ever see us again you're cutting loose, right?" Rose asked.

"How do you know me that well? Who are you?" Arkytior asked suspiciously.

Rose was silent. Any answer that she gave might give her away. It turned out that she didn't have to say anything. Arkytior already knew.

"Oh! So you're my replacement, are you? No wonder you're here. Apparently, I still come here when I'm troubled about something. So, Blondie, what did you come here about?" Arkytior said still angry.

"One of my friends was either kidnapped or killed, and I can't find out what happened to him," Rose admitted.

"Rose!" Amy hissed.

Arkytior stared at Amy for a minute and then smiled as she said, "Cliodna! You sound so odd with that Scottish accent. I like the red hair though for obvious reasons. I'm so glad that we're still friends in the future."

"You're really not supposed to know about all of this, Arkytior. This never happened before as far as I know," Amy said.

"It's okay. I'll make myself forget it if I have to. I don't see what a little bit of foreknowledge of what you and I look like in the future will hurt anything anyway," Arkytior said in a calmer tone.

Rose began to smile now. Cliodna had always had a way of calming her down no matter how angry that she was. Amy was still doing that now without even realizing it.

"Why are you so angry and acting so funny? You never go around yelling at total strangers. Not that I've ever seen," Amy asked.

"I . . . ," Arkytior started to say, but the sentence choked in her throat.

"Come on. Tell me. It'll help you to talk about it," Amy coaxed.

"Theta is sick. He's been sick for days, and he isn't getting any better. I know I'm not supposed to know about the future, but please tell me what happens! I have to know!" Arkytior said as she burst into tears.

Rose remembered what her past self was talking about. The Doctor had once contracted a rare disease, and it seemed like it was going to be fatal. He lay in bed sick for several days with a very high fever, and nothing that the doctors gave him did him any good. They started saying that he was going to die in less than 24 hours, and she had become very, very afraid that she was going to lose him. Then suddenly he started to get better one day out of the blue, and the doctors couldn't understand why. All that she knew was that she didn't care how it had happened as long as he was okay. She wondered if the Doctor's sudden mysterious recovery had anything to do with what was happening here right now.

"I can't tell you that. You know that," Amy said to Arkytior.

"Please! Please let me know! I beg you!" Arkytior said as she fell to her knees in front of Amy.

Amy started to tear up. She wanted to reassure her that the Doctor would be fine so badly, but she knew that if she did that then she might be affecting the future somehow. In fact, this very conversation might be affecting the future right now even as they spoke.

"I can't. I'm so sorry! I can't," Amy said in a shaky voice. Seeing her friend in such despair was tearing her up inside.

"Leave her alone! She can't tell you," Rose said to her younger self.

Arkytior suddenly flew into a rage again and surprised Rose by slapping her right in the face. Rose was furious now and slapped her younger self right back.

"Apparently she didn't learn it from Jackie," Mickey said to himself in a low voice.

"Shut up!" Arkytior and Rose both shouted at him at once.

"Okay. I'm shutting up now. There's no need to slap me too, ladies," Mickey said as he slowly started to back away from the two women.

"Is he a friend of ours?" Arkytior asked Rose.

"Yes, a good friend," Rose said.

"Then he shouldn't be making comments like that when I'm upset. He should know better. Why do you allow him to be disrespectful to you like that?" Arkytior demanded of her other self.

"I'm not being disrespectful," Mickey protested.

"The two of us have a much more informal but no less meaningful relationship than any of the ones that you have. He's always been used to speaking his mind freely around me," Rose explained.

"Apparently I don't care how I let people treat me in the future. Just like I apparently don't care anymore about Theta! I really don't look forward to becoming you," Arkytior said to Rose.

Rose balled her fists up in anger and briefly started to glow with golden energy. She calmed herself and quickly returned to normal.

Arkytior stared at her in shock as she saw this. In her time, she still hid her powers from everyone out of fear, and she had very little control over them.

"You used the power in front of Cliodna!" Arkytior said with a look of apprehension on her face.

"It's okay. Everything's fine, Arkytior," Amy reassured her.

"It is? You're not afraid?" Arkytior asked hesitantly.

"Of course not! You're my friend. Why would I be afraid of you?" Amy asked her with a smile.

Arkytior let out a breath that she didn't even realize that she had been holding and began to smile back at Amy in relief. Cliodna didn't care if she had the powers or not. Maybe that meant that no one else would either.

Rose started to worry now. None of this had happened before. History was being rewritten, and she couldn't let it continue. She had to erase all of this from her past self's memory now before it was too late.

They all heard a voice behind them just then say, "Hello there, everyone. This is the first time that I've ever seen so many people here before. Usually it's just me and my companions that come here. I'm the Doctor by the way. Nice to meet you!"

Rose turned to see the Doctor's fifth self coming strolling up to them with a cheerful grin on his face. This was the version of him that wore the cricketer outfit and had the stick of celery on his coat. Luckily it seemed as if the Doctor was alone this time as she saw no companions with him.

"Oh, no. This can't be happening. This just keeps getting worse," Rose said.

"This is bad, isn't it?" Mickey asked.

"Oh, yes. This is very bad!" Rose said.

"Theta? You survived! You survived!" Arkytior said as she rushed to the Doctor and threw her arms around him in joy.

"Arkytior?" the Doctor said with a mixture of joy and fear.

Then the Doctor looked at Rose and said with nothing but pure joy this time, "You're Arkytior as well, aren't you? You came back!"

"Back? Where did I go to?" Arkytior asked.

"Oh, dear! I know better than that, but I just got caught by surprise at seeing you again," the Doctor said apologetically.

"It's okay, Doctor. The timeline was already being changed long before you showed up. This is all so very wrong, and I need to fix it quickly before I get erased from existence," Rose said.

"It's okay. I'll make myself forget everything but the fact that Theta gets better," Arkytior reassured her.

"You're not supposed to know that. You're not even supposed to be here meeting me or him," Rose said.

"So this is not what happened before?" the Doctor asked with worry.

"No, it isn't. I don't remember any of this," Rose said.

"We're going to have to fix it then before time becomes unraveled," the Doctor said in a serious tone.

"I'll just have to erase her and your memories and send you both home," Rose said.

"Wait a minute. I don't want to forget about Theta being okay. You're not erasing that," Arkytior said.

"Oh, yes I am. All of it is going," Rose said.

"Whatever you're arguing about I'm sure that we can help solve it for you peacefully, can't we Rose?" another very familiar voice said.

"Oh, no! Of course you'd show up. You seem to be drawn to trouble, don't you?" the Fifth Doctor said.

"You would know since I'm you. How do you know me so quickly though? I haven't met you yet in this body," the Tenth Doctor said.

"Oh, it must be earlier in your timestream. I've already met this version of you, but apparently you haven't met me yet," the Fifth Doctor said.

"No, not yet. I do remember being you meeting me though. It's just that it hasn't happened yet for this me," the Tenth Doctor said.

"Does anybody else understand all of that? Also, what am I doing over there? Are you a future me that I'm not supposed to be meeting?" a very human Rose Tyler anxiously asked her future self.

"Yes, definitely. Every other law of time is being broken today though so why not that too? I don't remember any of this!" Present Rose said in anger and disgust.

"Don't worry about it, Rose. I'm sure between the two of me we'll be able to sort it all out where no damage will be done," the Tenth Doctor said with a smug smile.

"Skinny idiot!" the Fifth Doctor muttered under his breath.

Rose couldn't help but smile at that no matter how messed up this whole situation had quickly become. She was about to get together with the two Doctors and try to come up with a solution to all of this when things got worse yet again.

"Hello, my dear Doctors. It's so nice to see you and your miserable little companions here all together. Just think of how much better it is for me to kill all of you this way. Thank you for making it all so convenient for me," the Master, in the stolen body of Tremas from the planet Traken, said with murderous glee in his voice.

He was pointing his Tissue Compression Eliminator at them and maniacally laughing to himself. He was just loving every minute of this! Rose realized.

"None of you move, or you're going to be added to my doll collection very quickly," the Master threatened them.

"It's old Beardy again! I missed him," the Tenth Doctor said with nostalgia.

"I could do without him popping up for a while," the Fifth Doctor said as he rolled his eyes at his younger self.

"Silence, Doctors! This is my moment of supreme joy. I'm going to get to kill you twice in the same day!" the Master said with an emotion that seemed to be approaching ecstasy.

"What was that again about no one much coming here and nothing bad ever happening here?" Shareen said to Rose.

"Shut up!" Rose said as she began to have a very, very bad headache.

I'm getting just as bad as the Doctor! Rose thought to herself with a huge sigh.

**Next: How in the world is Rose getting to get herself out of this mess? Find out in the next chapter. Let's just hope that it doesn't get any worse! (Insert evil laughter)**


	63. Chapter 63

CHAPTER 63

I do not own Doctor Who, and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews!**

**This story takes place before recent chapters of War of the Guardians.**

Just before the Master could fire his Tissue Compression Eliminator at the two Doctors, a voice behind him said, "I wouldn't do that if I were you."

The Master caught a glimpse of a woman with blonde hair holding a meson blaster standing several feet behind him. He could tell just by briefly glancing at this woman's eyes that she would cut him down without a second thought. He slowly laid the TCE down on the ground and then put his hands up.

"I surrender," the Master said.

"Good. That makes it easier for me to do this," River Song said as she shot him.

"I hope for all of our sakes that that was on the stun setting," Present Rose said.

"Of course it was. Do you think I'm an idiot?" River said as she rolled her eyes.

"Do I know you?" the Fifth Doctor asked.

"Not yet but you will," River said in a flirtatious voice.

Arkytior, Present Rose, and Human Rose all cleared their throats very loudly at the same time; and River said, "Sorry, I forgot myself for a minute there."

"I assume that you're from around the same time as me then," Present Rose said.

"I believe so. Have we done the Celestial Toyroom yet?" River asked.

"I've been there before, but not with you," Present Rose said.

"Okay. So you're not entirely in sync with me yet then. I think that you're probably not too far behind me anyway," River said.

"Not from what I can tell," Present Rose said as she read River's timeline while keeping her eyes closed so as not to alarm Human Rose. She didn't read too closely for fear of finding out too much about her own future.

"Do you know anything about this?" River asked Present Rose.

"I don't remember any of it," Present Rose admitted.

"That means time is being rewritten. Wonderful," River said.

"I know. Maybe working together with the Doctors though we can fix it as long as no one else shows up," Present Rose said.

"Oh, you just had to go and say that," Shareen said in irritation.

Present Rose put her hand to her mouth as she realized what she had just done, but it was already too late.

"Oh, no. What are you all doing here?" a voice that the Doctors knew all too well said.

"I have no idea. The TARDIS just brought me here, and then all of these other people started showing up including him," the Fifth Doctor said as he pointed to the unconscious Master on the ground.

"Well that's just great. We're involved in a massive temporal paradox that just keeps getting bigger all of the time. Our arrival is just going to make it worse, Sarah Jane," the Third Doctor said.

Present Rose could see a very young Sarah Jane Smith with him, and she smiled to herself. She loved getting to see Sarah Jane in her prime like this. She could see Human Rose smiling in the exact same way which told her that her other self had already met Sarah Jane in her own personal timeline. She wondered where she was exactly in her timeline. Was this long before Canary Wharf or just before? She couldn't help but want to warn her not to go with the Doctor to that place. She knew that it all ultimately turned out alright, but she still couldn't bear to see the happy smile on her past self's face and know that she was about to suffer so much pain.

"Hello, everyone! I don't know anyone here, but I get the feeling that some of you know me in the future. That means that I probably shouldn't ask too many questions if I don't want to make things worse even though that goes against every instinct that I have as a journalist," Sarah Jane said.

"That's probably for the best, Sarah Jane. I don't think that it will hurt to tell you that he and he are me though," the Third Doctor said as he pointed to his fifth and tenth selves.

"So they're future versions of you?" Sarah Jane asked in amazement.

"Yes, unfortunately they are. It seems that I do not improve with age either judging from the juvenile behavior of my older self over there," the Third Doctor said as he pointed to his tenth self.

"Oi! Are you saying that I act like a child?" the Tenth Doctor asked as he flew into a rage.

"Doctor!" Human Rose said in a disapproving tone.

The Tenth Doctor saw the angry look on her face and immediately calmed down.

"Well, we certainly know who's in charge in your relationship," another very familiar voice said.

Both Roses turned to look at the newcomer with a huge grin on their faces. It was the Ninth Doctor.

"So I was heading for Barcelona when suddenly I'm thrown off course, and I wind up here. Any idea how that happened?" the Ninth Doctor asked in anger.

"I have no idea either, old chap. I only just got here myself after I was pulled in just like you were," the Third Doctor said.

"Rose and I were pulled in too. I was trying to go to Barcelona too oddly enough," the Tenth Doctor said.

"Yeah, so you say. I still don't believe it myself. How many times have you told me that you were taking me there now?" Rose asked.

"I was just trying to go back to Heathrow Airport to pick up Nyssa and Tegan. I agreed to pick them both back up there after they had a nice peaceful visit in London for a while. I never can find Heathrow for some reason. There must be some kind of temporal distortion around that area that makes it hard for the TARDIS to reach it," the Fifth Doctor reasoned.

"Yeah and there must be one around Barcelona too," Rose commented.

"Will you let that go!" the Tenth Doctor said with a sigh.

"I've had enough of all of your babbling. I have important places to go and things to do. I have to take care of the whole bloody universe, don't I? I'm always taking care of the universe, and it never once takes care of me. When do I ever get something back? All the universe does is take and take!" the Ninth Doctor said in a rage.

"Shut up!" Present Rose commanded him.

The Ninth Doctor opened his mouth to protest; but Rose quickly silenced him as she said, "I said zip it! I don't want to hear anything else out of you. Period! All of time and space is in danger of unraveling at any minute, and all that you can do is talk about yourself. I know that you got handed a really bad deal out of life, but it does get better. Believe me. The universe will give you back what was lost and then some. Unless of course, everything falls apart in the next few minutes then nothing will happen to anyone ever again."

The Ninth Doctor remained silent and didn't speak again for a while after that. All he could do was wonder who this remarkable woman was and why she seemed so familiar to him.

"I love it! I never thought that anyone would ever be able to make Shouty shut up like that. That's priceless!" the Tenth Doctor said with a big grin.

"I know. It's good to know that I become so tough in the future," Human Rose said with a look of admiration for her future self on her face.

"Yes, both of you are of great interest. I would love to study you both further later on. I may even keep the two of you alive while I kill the rest of these fools," a ghastly looking figure in black that looked like death warmed over said.

"Koschei?" Arkytior asked.

This was the Master after he had used up all of his regenerations and his last body was dying. He looked like a living skeleton and was being kept alive only through the force of his own will and his vast hatred for the Doctor.

The Master turned to look at Arkytior in surprise, and the hatred seemed to drain from his face immediately. Arkytior always had had the ability to shame him into stopping whenever he was about to do something that he shouldn't.

While the Master was occupied with staring at Arkytior, Present Rose laid him out cold with a good punch to the jaw. She looked at him with sadness and was so glad that this version of him was in the past.

"I'm sorry, Koschei. That actually did hurt me more than it did you," Present Rose said and meant it.

"That was wonderful. It's not like he didn't deserve it. I've felt like doing that to him many times myself," the Rani said.

"Oh, great!" Present Rose said as she rolled her eyes.

"Arkytior?" the Rani asked as she recognized Rose right away.

"Arkytior?" the Third, Ninth and Tenth Doctors all said together in shock.

"Oi! Who's Arkytior? I'm Rose, and so is she," Human Rose said in anger.

The Tenth Doctor could see it now. He hadn't noticed it before because she was obviously a future version of Rose, and he hadn't had any reason to expect Rose of being someone else. He had never looked deeper to see her Time Lord essence because he had no reason to.

He looked at his Rose closer now and saw that she wasn't a Time Lord like the other one was. However, he clearly saw that there was still something familiar about her now that he was looking for it. As he studied Rose closer than he ever had before, he suddenly knew that it was true.

"Doctor, you're scaring me. Why are you looking at me like that, and what is with this Arkytior stuff that everyone keeps talking about?" Human Rose demanded.

"It's nothing, Rose. Nothing at all. Don't worry about it," the Tenth Doctor said gently.

"Now I know something's wrong. You're being way too nice to me," Human Rose said with her voice sounding like she was beginning to panic.

Present Rose had had enough of all of this. Most if not all of the Laws of Time had been broken here today, and she had to fix this circus before things went any further out of control.

Just as she thought this, even more visitors arrived and pushed even her considerable patience to its limits. She started to groan very loudly now as Mels Zucker, the past self of River Song, and the incarnation of the Master who the Third Doctor had always clashed with showed up on one side of her while Cliodna showed up on the other side. Right in front of her, the Present Koschei and Marissa appeared as well. This just kept getting worse and worse!

"Rose, what's going on here? We were traveling back to Gallifrey when we suddenly materialized here. Oh, no! Is that me over there?" Marissa asked with a frown on her face.

"I'm afraid it is. There have been a lot of unexpected and very annoying visitors here today," Present Rose said.

"Oh, don't tell me I become a goody goody in the future. That's just disgusting," the Rani said with a wrinkled up nose as she walked around and around Marissa and looked her up and down.

"At least I'm not as disgusting as you," Marissa said as she looked at her past self with raw, seething hatred.

"What was that, Princess? I couldn't hear you over the sound of all of those angels singing all around you because you're so pure and good!" the Rani taunted.

"I'll give you something else to listen to then instead. When I get done with you, the only thing that you're going to hear is the sound of little birdies tweeting after I get through clobbering you," Marissa threatened.

Koschei stood in between the two of them and tried to act as a peacemaker for once in his life. It turned out that he wasn't very good at it.

"Marissa, things must be really bad when I'm the voice of reason around here. I believe that I have to remind you though that we have bigger things to worry about than your past self," Koschei said.

"Shut up, Koschei!" Both the Rani and Marissa said to him at once and made him cringe.

The Master who was always the constant enemy of the Third Doctor just kept chuckling away at what was happening to his future self. He was not threatening to cause any havoc for once but was instead talking to the Third Doctor about what was going on here. He knew that if he tried anything that he was likely to wind up knocked out cold on the ground like most of his other selves, and he was much too smart to let something like that happen to him if he could help it.

"So we're in the middle of a major paradox that just keeps growing exponentially worse then? That would explain why my TARDIS was pulled so far off course to this place. Is anyone going to do something about it?" the Master asked the Third Doctor.

"Well we were trying to, but so far we haven't had time to come up with a solution because more people keep showing up and interrupting us," the Third Doctor explained.

"You'll have to do something about that first then. Maybe if we work together we can at least come up with some way to keep this from getting any worse," the Master suggested.

"Fine. As long as that doesn't involve you finding some way to shoot me in the back when I'm not looking," the Third Doctor said.

"Me? I would never do such a thing when there's a major crisis like this going on, Doctor. You know better than that. There will be plenty of time for me to kill you later," the Master said with complete honesty.

"Well, as long as we know where we stand," the Third Doctor said with almost a bit of a smile.

"Doctor, he just threatened to kill you," Sarah Jane said in an outraged voice.

"I know, but he does that sort of thing all of the time, Sarah Jane. I'm afraid I've rather become used to it by now. Now if he wasn't threatening to kill me, then I'd be worried. That would mean that he was up to something really dangerous," the Third Doctor confided in her.

The two Time Lords then went to work pulling odds and ends out of their pockets in an attempt to create something that would keep anyone else from being pulled out of time and space to wind up trapped her along with the rest of them. At least maybe they could keep anymore unwanted guests from showing up here today.

Finally after several minutes, they had succeeded in building a very odd contraption that somehow worked despite how shoddily constructed that it appeared. A spinning dish on top of the device proved that it was keeping any further intruders from coming there.

"There. It seems to be working fine now. Reversing the polarity of the neutron flow helped increase its effectiveness just like I said. Now no one else can come here until we've found a way to fix all of this," the Third Doctor said proudly.

"Now, Doctor, I believe I have a promise to keep," the Master said as he started to pull a gun out of his pocket.

He was quickly disarmed and knocked out cold by the lightning fast reflexes of the Third Doctor as he used his Venusian Aikido on him.

The Third Doctor smiled at Sarah Jane as he said, "You know, Sarah Jane, sometimes I think that it's almost as if he wants to lose."

Koschei saw what had happened and nodded silently at the Third Doctor's words as he silently agreed with him. Maybe I did. Koschei thought to himself.

Mels meanwhile was smiling widely as she looked around her and instantly knew where she was. She had heard stories of this place from the Silence. They had told her that the Doctor sometimes came to the Eye of Orion in order to relax and had described this place to her in exact detail. She had often thought that this might be the perfect place to catch him all alone and then kill him. She then looked at the four Doctors that were already here and began to realize that she could finally put that plan into action four times over.

"I know what you're thinking, and it's a bad idea. You'll just create a temporal paradox so massive that it will wipe out everything," River warned her past self.

"Who are you to tell me what to do? My mother?" Mels asked River with a look of disdain on her face.

"No, she's not, but I am. You're going to put any thoughts of killing the Doctor out of your mind right now, Melody Pond!" Amy ordered Mels.

Mels looked at Amy in amazement and with tears starting to develop in her eyes. She knew! Her mother knew her. She had never been so happy in her life.

"How?" Mels asked as she smiled a big goofy grin at Amy.

"It's a long story, but it won't happen at all if you kill the Doctors," River said.

"Fine, I'll just kill him some other time then. I've always envisioned it happening in Nazi Germany anyway. That seems like the perfect place to kill a criminal as bad as the Doctor," Mels said with a smile.

River grinned at Mels despite herself, and Amy just shook her head at her.

"What?" Mels asked them both.

Cliodna meanwhile had managed to find Arkytior in the middle of all of this mess and was trying to find out what was going on from her. She came running up to Arkytior and tried to lead her away from the rest of the people, who to her were total strangers, that had gathered around her.

"What is going on here? Who are all of these people, and why did you come here alone for? You shouldn't have left, Arkytior. Theta's gotten worse. You need to be there. He doesn't have much longer," Cliodna said in a sad voice.

"That's where you're wrong. Theta survives. There are four of his future selves here right now. I've seen them," Arkytior argued.

"You know that time is always in flux, Ari. Even if those men are all Theta that doesn't mean for sure that he is going to survive. He could still die especially since you've broken the Laws of Time by finding out the future. You don't know what effect that could have on things," Cliodna warned.

"Listen to her. It's you that's caused all of this by finding out things that you weren't supposed to know and then refusing to erase your mind about the Doctor surviving his sickness. Your stubbornness to do that has caused a paradox that has spiraled out of control and is threatening to tear apart the universe," Present Rose warned.

"I won't make myself forget about him surviving. I won't!" Arkytior said stubbornly.

"Arkytior, is that you?" Cliodna asked as she stared at Present Rose.

"It's me. I may not exist anymore soon though if things aren't set right by my past self. I never thought that I could be so selfish and petty," Present Rose said.

"You don't understand. I can't go back to not knowing that he's going to be alright. I can't. ," Arkytior said.

"Why not?" Present Rose asked.

"You told me that he gets cured mysteriously. What if that's why we met here today? Maybe I'm supposed to remember so that I can find the cure and bring it back to him. If I forget now, he may not ever be cured; and he might die because of that. Now that I know that he can survive then I'll know that somewhere out there there's a cure. If I forget, then I won't be looking for one. I might convince myself that it's hopeless," Arkytior said with worry in her voice.

"The cure might come about despite your lack of memory. I never knew how it happened," Present Rose said.

"If I may intervene here and save us all a lot of trouble, I remember exactly what happened on that day," the Fifth Doctor said.

"What?" Arkytior and Present Rose both asked at the same time.

"I had been exposed to a gas in the Praxis range of the spectrum that I was highly allergic to. It caused a terrible allergic reaction that almost killed me. The only thing that saved me was this," the Doctor said as he pointed to the stick of celery on his coat.

"Celery?" Present Rose asked in disbelief.

"Yes, despite what that skinny idiot might say it's for more than decoration. He just doesn't want to remember how we almost died. It's not one of my better memories. It was very painful, and I had no idea if I would survive or not," the Fifth Doctor explained.

"How did you find out that celery was the answer?" Arkytior asked.

"That's the strange part. It was something that I never did understand. A stick of celery wound up next to my bed with a note wrapped around it telling me to eat it in order to save myself. I never knew where it came from, or who wrote the note. I didn't recognize the handwriting on the note either," the Fifth Doctor explained.

"So it wasn't me then?" Arkytior asked.

"No, it wasn't your handwriting I'm sure of that," the Fifth Doctor said.

"Would you remember the handwriting again if you saw it?" Present Rose asked the Fifth Doctor.

"Yes, I'm sure of it," the Fifth Doctor said.

Present Rose produced a piece of paper and then asked Mickey, Shareen, Amy, Francine, and Penny to sign their names on it right after hers. She reasoned that one of them must have written the letter, or they wouldn't have crossed paths with Arkytior in the first place.

The Fifth Doctor looked at the names and said, "Yes, it's that one. That's the handwriting that was on the note. I remember it clearly. So that's who it was," the Fifth Doctor said as a long unsolved mystery finally made sense to him now

Present Rose then had the letter written by the person whose handwriting that the Fifth Doctor had recognized. She took the celery from the Fifth Doctor's lapel and wrapped it up in the note just like the Doctor said that he had found it as he took a replacement piece out of his pocket and put it back on his lapel.

"Here, take this with you back to the past and leave it on the Doctor's bedside table. Then make yourself forget everything that happened here today. As far as you're concerned, you never left Gallifrey; and the Doctor was mysteriously cured. That should fix all of this mess instantly," Present Rose told Arkytior.

Arkytior nodded, and she went back to the TARDIS from the museum that she had borrowed in order to come here. As soon as she left, everyone started to disappear instantly as everyone returned to their proper places in the timestream with all of their memories of this day having been forgotten. Rose breathed a sigh of relief as she realized that time had been fixed at last.

The only ones who now remembered what had happened were Rose and her friends who were now left all alone. She walked over to her friends with a big smile on her face and waited for the many, many questions that she knew were soon to follow from Shareen. Shareen also had a truckload of them for her every time something weird like this happened.

"Fire away, Shareen. I know you're dying to ask me a billion questions right now," Rose said as she prepared herself for the onslaught that she was sure was about to come at any moment now.

"Not really. I just have one. Whose handwriting was on the note?" Shareen asked.

She hadn't seen who finally was picked to write it so she had no idea. Rose had gone off and returned with the note completely written and handed it to her past self.

"That's all?" Rose asked in surprise.

"Yeah. I wouldn't understand the answers that you'd probably give me to anything else anyway so I'll just go with that one question. I'd like to know the answer to it more than anything else," Shareen said.

"Alright. It was me," Rose said.

"You? The Doctor said that it wasn't in Arkytior's handwriting," Shareen said.

"It wasn't because it was in mine. My handwriting is different from hers. I think because my personality is different from hers; and as Rose, I was taught to write in human schools and not on Gallifrey. Whenever I've had to write something as Arkytior for some official reason or another on Gallifrey, I have to make myself remember how I used to write back then and make a conscious effort not to revert back to my current handwriting style," Rose explained.

"That's incredible. You really are different from her, aren't you? Mickey still keeps trying to insinuate that you're not Rose sometimes, but you obviously are with evidence like that," Shareen said.

"Mickey apparently needs rock hard evidence that I'm still Rose. He seems to doubt it even after all that we've gone through together. You'd think that he'd see who I really am by now. You do, don't you?" Rose asked uncertainly.

"Yes, I do. I could certainly see today. The other you was so uncertain and nervous about the future. That's certainly not you. You're always optimistic and joyful about it," Shareen said.

Rose smiled at that assessment and looked at Mickey to see his reaction when she realized something with horror. Mickey was gone!

"Where is Mickey?" Rose asked in growing fear.

"I don't know. I haven't seen him since everyone went back to their own times," Shareen said.

Rose then was certain that she knew what had happened, but she had no idea why it had happened or how.

"Mickey's back in the past with me. He's with Arkytior," Rose said in a full blown panic.

"How do you know that for sure? I thought that you erased your memories of this incident," Shareen said as she too began to get upset.

"I did but now all of a sudden new memories that weren't there before are beginning to surface. Time has been rewritten, and I now remember Mickey appearing to me as Arkytior in the past. He was trapped there, and I couldn't get him home. I also remember something else," Rose said with pure terror on her face.

"What?" Shareen asked in tears due to her friend's reaction to her sudden new memories.

"He died! I remember Mickey dying back on Gallifrey in the past. He was shot dead because humans weren't allowed on Gallifrey in those days!" Rose exclaimed.

**Next: Mickey is stranded in the Gallifrey of the past with Arkytior the only one who he can trust. Will he ever get home, or is he destined to die in the past as Rose remembers?**


	64. Chapter 64

CHAPTER 64

I do not own Doctor Who, and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews!**

**This story takes place before the last few chapters of War of the Guardians.**

Mickey Smith had been at the Eye of Orion one minute during that huge mess with the paradox, and the next minute he had suddenly found himself on Gallifrey. Only this wasn't the Gallifrey that he knew. This version of it looked different. He was beginning to come to the ominous realization that this must be the Gallifrey of a different time, and that might mean trouble for him. He remembered Rose saying once that humans weren't allowed on Gallifrey at certain times in its past and knowing his luck this was probably one of them.

He wasn't sure how he had gotten here or what to do next. He finally decided to try to find a way out of the Capitol before he was found. He was fairly certain that had been here enough to find his way outside by himself. He started to slowly walk through the corridors and would hide whenever he heard the sound of footsteps nearby.

He had been trained in stealth combat by Torchwood so he wasn't too worried about being discovered. He was more worried about how he would ever get back home. Even if he could make his way to the outside, he would still be trapped on Gallifrey. He could be who knew how many years in the past, and he might never be able to get home. The only one that he thought would help would be Arkytior, but she probably wouldn't even remember him now. He began to wonder if he would ever see Martha again.

He was almost to the exit to the Wastelands outside the Capitol when he saw a huge group of guards heading his way. He quickly hid behind a wall as he froze in place not even daring to breathe too hard. He waited until he heard the guards' footsteps go by, and then a minute later he dared to stick his head around the corner of the wall.

He almost yelled out in surprise as he saw Arkytior standing there looking straight at him. She was glaring at him just like Rose did whenever he had done something to make her angry. He could certainly see the similarities between the two of them at this moment. He realized that she was very, very displeased with him about something to say the least.

"What are you doing here?" Arkytior asked him in a furious tone.

"I have no idea. I just kind of popped up here, and I don't know how or why," Mickey said.

He didn't share any details about the trouble with the paradox because he was sure that she would have already forgotten about that. Rose would have had her wipe her memories as soon as she went back home based on his past experience with things like this. His heart sank as he realized that that meant that she wouldn't remember him either.

Arkytior studied him for a moment and determined that he was telling her the truth. She could see just by looking at the expression on his face that he looked worried and anxious. He didn't want to be here that much was sure. She felt like she could instinctively trust him for some reason and decided to find out more about him.

"You're human, right?" Arkytior asked in a gentler tone.

"Yes, and I'd really like to go back there. Do you think that you could find a TARDIS and take me back?" Mickey asked.

"TARDIS? I don't know that word," Arkytior said.

"Sure you do. Time Lords travel through time and space in them all of the time," Mickey said as he looked at her like she was insane.

"Oh, you mean a TT capsule. I think I can arrange to take you back in one. I own one that I donated to a museum. I still take her on a trip or two sometimes when I feel like it. As long as I bring her back before anyone notices, I should be able to use her to send you home," Arkytior said.

"Great. Let's go there now then. I want to get out of here. They don't like humans around here from what I hear," Mickey said as he looked around him warily.

"Humans aren't allowed on Gallifrey. If they catch you here, they might just decide to kill you," Arkytior warned.

"Then why don't we go to your TT capsule before that can happen then," Mickey said as he began to look more nervous by the second.

"I can't do that right now. There are tours of the museum being conducted right now even as we speak. We'll have to wait until the place is empty at night. I'll take you to my room at the Academy, and you can wait there until the museum closes. Follow me. This is so early in the morning that I don't think that anyone but us will be around," Arkytior said.

"What are you doing out if it's so early?" Mickey asked curiously.

"I just came from my morning walk outside of the Capitol. I like to go outside and breathe real air that isn't recycled every once in a while. I sneak out in the middle of the night when no one's looking and go back at the crack of dawn," Arkytior said.

She looked at him in amazement as she said, "I've never told anyone that before. Not even Theta. Why did I tell you?"

"Maybe I just have a trustworthy face," Mickey said with a small smile.

The two of them walked in silence after that until they reached Arkytior's room. Luckily, they saw no other Time Lords on the way there.

Once they got inside, Arkytior studied Mickey closely yet again as she stared him up and down for a minute making him feel very uncomfortable. This wasn't like Rose at all. He had never once caught Rose studying him like a lab specimen. It just showed him that as similar as this woman was she was also very different from the Rose that he knew.

She seemed to realize the effect that her inspection was having on him though as she smiled at him and apologized a minute later.

"I'm sorry. I forgot that they don't like to be stared at like that on your planet. I didn't mean anything by it. I'm just trying to learn more about you by observation. You're the first human that I've ever met before. I've always been fascinated by your planet you know ever since I can remember," Arkytior said.

"Really? Why is that?" Mickey asked her curiously. He had never heard Rose say that before.

"I don't know. It's just something about your world. It's like it almost calls to me. I feel like I belong there instead of here. Sometimes I almost wish that I had been born human instead of as a Time Lord. I bet I'd make a good human," Arkytior said.

"You'd fit right in," Mickey said knowingly.

"How did you know?" Arkytior suddenly asked him accusingly.

"Know what?" Mickey asked in confusion.

"When I first met you, you jumped out of your skin at first; and then you relaxed. Your body language said that you felt safe around me. Then when I told you that if they found you they might kill you, you never seemed to think that I would turn you in. Why? That never even occurred to you. It would have been easier for me if I had. How did you know that I wouldn't?" Arkytior asked.

"You're a nice person. I could tell that by looking at you. I just felt like I could trust you for some reason," Mickey said.

Arkytior looked at him skeptically but said no more about it. She knew that he was keeping something from her, but she wasn't going to press him about it right now.

"We'll just stay here and talk all day until it's time for the museum to close. Luckily for you, I have nothing to do and nowhere that I'm supposed to be today. This is my day off from the Academy," Arkytior said.

"I guess I timed it just right then," Mickey said.

Arkytior smiled at his sense of humor as she asked, "So what's your name, and where are you from on Earth?"

Mickey hesitated. Should he tell her the truth? What if he were breaking some Law of Time or something? Still, he had never lied to Rose before, and he didn't want to start now. Not even if she wasn't really Rose yet.

"My name is Mickey Smith, and I'm from London in the 21st century," Mickey said.

Arkytior had noticed his hesitation but decided not to mention it right now as she said, "London? Oh, I would love to see London. Maybe I'll visit there one day when I graduate from the Academy."

"You'll love it there. Maybe you could try some of the local food too. Like the chips. I'm betting you'll love the chips," Mickey said as he smiled to himself.

"Chips? What are chips?" Arkytior asked with sudden interest.

"They're potatoes that are cut into thin strips and fried. They taste so good, especially with ketchup. You have to try them," Mickey said with a diabolical look on his face.

"They sound like they might be delicious. I think that I've heard of them before only I read that they were called French fries," Arkytior said.

"They are in America but in my country we call them chips," Mickey explained.

"Ah. I see. They are so many languages and cultures on Earth. I've studied them a lot, but I still have so much to learn. Now I've got one of you right here where I can talk to you. I hope you don't mind if I do exactly that. I've got so much to learn from you," Arkytior said eagerly.

"Go ahead. Ask away," Mickey said.

They spent the next couple of hours with Arkytior asking Mickey any question that she could think of about Earth and humans. She asked him about what he ate, what he did for fun, what London was like, what the people of his time wore, and so many other questions about the culture of his country. Mickey was amused at how fascinated she seemed to be with Earth and its people.

He also noticed that she seemed to really enjoy being around him and to be more and more at ease with him as time went by. In fact, they were starting to have the same kind of easy conversational style that he had always had with Rose. The two of them were already on the way to becoming friends he could feel that. It seemed that no matter how different she was that some parts of Arkytior's personality were the same as Rose's. Her core personality never seemed to waver.

"Why are you smiling at me like that for?" Arkytior asked.

"Sorry. You just remind me so much of a good friend of mine from my time. You're a lot like her," Mickey admitted.

"Her?" Arkytior asked with curiosity.

"Yeah. So?" Mickey asked not understanding the question.

"Is she your girlfriend?" Arkytior asked.

"She was once but not anymore. She met some other bloke that she liked better. We're still really close though. I love her like a sister," Mickey said honestly.

"I'm sorry that she dumped you," Arkytior said.

Mickey almost smiled. Arkytior had no idea that she was apologizing for something that she hadn't even done yet.

"That's okay. If she hadn't, then I wouldn't have met my wife. I think that she was better off with this other bloke than with me anyway. I'll always love her though no matter what and be there whenever she needs me," Mickey said.

Arkytior smiled at him warmly as she was touched by what he had said. She found herself giving him a kiss on the cheek, and both of them blushed with embarrassment afterwards.

"I'm sorry if I embarrassed you. I just thought that what you said was so sweet that you deserved that. Does she know that you still feel that way about her?" Arkytior asked.

"I don't know. I've never told her, but I think that maybe she knows anyway," Mickey said.

"She's very lucky to have two men care about her so much. I still can't get one," Arkytior admitted.

"Really? I find that hard to believe," Mickey said.

"You wouldn't if you met him. He's the most insufferably thick person I've ever met. He infuriates me more than anyone else can yet at the same time I love him more than anyone I've ever known. I've practically thrown myself at him, but he never seems to notice how I feel about him. I think that I'd have to just kiss his brains out before he'd finally figure it out. Only I'd probably die of fright before I'd get that far. I'm a very shy person, and it's hard for me to talk to anyone especially him," Arkytior freely admitted.

"Yet here you are chattering away to me," Mickey observed.

"I know. I'm telling you things that I've never told anyone. Maybe I just feel more comfortable with you because you're not a Time Lord. I don't know what it is," Arkytior said.

Mickey wondered if it was because somehow she knew that he was her friend from the future. Maybe the Bad Wolf part of her had told her that unconsciously somehow.

The two of them suddenly heard a knock on Arkytior's door then, and she motioned for him to hide in her closet. He went into the closet, shut the door, and then stood behind some of her clothes as he did his best to hide there.

Arkytior opened the door, and Theta Sigma walked in. He must have heard his ears burning! Arkytior thought to herself.

"Hey, Ari! I just wondered if you'd like to go with me to hear Borusa's new lecture on Earth. He's going to be talking about all of the weird kinds of food that humans eat. I bet he tells us about foods that even you have never heard of before. I'm sure it won't be anything that I've never heard of though. I'm an expert on Earth. I've read everything that the Academy library has on humans. They're stupid little apes, but I can't help feeling like I'd really like them if I ever got to meet some of them. I also want to try something that I read about the other day. Maybe Borusa will talk about them. They're a sweet candy called Jelly Babies," Theta said with a gleam in his eyes.

"I . . . ," Arkytior said as she hesitated.

"What is it? Usually you love to come hear about the Earth. Is something wrong?" Theta asked.

"No. I just don't feel very well today. Maybe I'll just stay in my room this time and rest," Arkytior said.

"Is it me? Did I do something wrong? If I did, I apologize for it. I know that sometimes I can insult you without even knowing that I'm doing it. I'm sorry if I did," Theta said looking disappointed and sad.

"No. It's nothing that you did. We're good, Theta. Don't worry. I just think maybe I'll stay here this time," Arkytior said.

Theta looked like someone had kicked his dog and burned his house down on the same day as he gave Arkytior the sad puppy dog eyes that he sometimes had when he was really disappointed or upset about something. She felt lower than dirt now for breaking his hearts this way, but she felt like she couldn't leave Mickey in her room alone. She would be worried that someone might find him if she weren't there to watch out for him.

She heard a loud noise that sounded as if something fell in her closet, and she knew that it was Mickey. She had to make an excuse to Theta so that she could see what had happened.

"Something must have fallen in my closet. Wait outside a minute while I fix it all back up again," Arkytior said.

"Why? I've seen your closet before thousands of times," Theta asked.

"You haven't seen it in the shape it's probably in now. I'd be embarrassed for you to look at it like that. Go outside and wait," Arkytior said.

"Are you going to get changed then? Is that why you don't want me in there?" Theta asked hopefully.

"I might. Just give me a few minutes, and I'll come back out and let you know. Okay?" Arkytior said with a smile.

"Alright," Theta said with a happier look on his face now that there was some hope that she might change her mind and come with him after all.

Arkytior went to her closet and opened it. She had to suppress a laugh as she saw Mickey lying sprawled out on the floor with some of her clothes laying all over him.

"What happened to you?" Arkytior whispered with an amused look on her face.

"I tripped over some of your shoes. My legs were starting to fall asleep all cramped up in here, and I decided to try to move around a little to keep the blood flowing. I fell and just laid here because I didn't want to make any more noise," Mickey said.

"You poor, poor man! I'm sorry about that. You'll just have to sit down on the floor in there until I come back. Just stay in the closet in case someone enters my room," Arkytior advised.

"You're going then?" Mickey said happily.

"Yes. I can't stand to disappoint him. Sorry," Arkytior admitted.

"No, that's good. I was going to tell you to do that anyway. Don't worry about me. I'll still be here when you get back," Mickey assured her.

"I won't be long if I can help it. I'll be back as soon as I can," Arkytior promised.

Arkytior left then, and Mickey sat in the closet for a long time without moving. His legs were soon starting to fall asleep even like this though. He didn't dare go out of the closet, however, because he might be caught in her room if he did.

Arkytior had told him that the rooms of all of the students at the Academy were often subject to random visits by the instructors who had the keys to all of the rooms. They might visit just to make sure that the students weren't doing something that they shouldn't.

That meant that he was stuck in there in that tiny cramped little area surrounded by clothes and shoes for the foreseeable future. It could be worse though. It could be Rose's closet back in his time which was so packed full of clothes from Barcelona that he wouldn't have even been able to breathe. He would have been asphyxiated in no time if he had had to hide in there.

Then Mickey's heart skipped a beat as he heard Arkytior's door open, and footsteps that he knew were too heavy to be hers entered the room. He froze as he heard the footsteps get closer and closer to the closet door.

He heard the footsteps stop right outside of the door. Then there was silence for several minutes while Mickey held his breath.

Mickey began to wonder if this was it, and he was going to be found out here and now. Finally the footsteps started to walk away, and he had to stop himself from sighing in relief in case the person in the room heard him.

His relief was short lived though as the door to the closet was suddenly torn apart by a sudden burst of energy that disintegrated it into dust in less than a second! Mickey was left completely exposed now to a man holding a kind of gun that he had never seen before pointed right at his head.

"Get on your feet, human! I don't know what you were planning to do to my friend, but you won't get a chance to lay a hand on her now that I'm here," the man said.

"Wait. Let me explain," Mickey said.

"I said on your feet! I'm taking you straight to the instructors. They'll decide whether to have you executed or not for being here. Maybe they'll let me do it myself. You deserve it for even thinking about trying to hurt her. She's the kindest person I've ever known," the man said with pure hatred in his eyes.

As Mickey slowly got to his feet, he tried to talk to him yet again as he said, "I'm not here to hurt anyone. I'm her friend. You have to listen to me before you do something that we're both going to regret."

"I will regret nothing, human. You are no friend to anyone here. All humans are worthless primitives, and one day I hope that someone grinds them into the dust where they belong. Maybe one day I will. If they're all as full of treachery as you are, I would be glad to," the man shouted.

"You're not listening to me. Who are you anyway, and what's your connection to Arkytior?" Mickey asked.

"I don't have to tell you anything, human. As for my name, it's too good for the likes of you. You may simply call me Master!" the man said with a mad look in his eyes.

Mickey gulped as he realized now that this was Koschei back in his bad old days. This was when he was just beginning to become the Master. He was dead. There was no reasoning with this version of him. It was all over!

**Next: Mickey is exposed to the other Time Lords and accused of attempting to kill Arkytior by Koschei. Arkytior has to save Mickey somehow before Rose's memories of his death become true. **


	65. Chapter 65

CHAPTER 65

I do not own Doctor Who, and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews!**

**This story takes place before the last few chapters of War of the Guardians.**

**The Adventures of Rose Tyler recently passed over 10,000 views. I just want to thank everyone who has read this title over the last few months! I really appreciate it.**

Mickey was now being led at gunpoint down the corridors of the Capitol by Koschei. He knew better than to try to run. Koschei would cut him down in a second.

He began to wonder if this was it. Was he going to die here in the past centuries before he was ever born?

He still didn't know why he had even come here in the first place? He just wanted to go home. That's all that he could think about now. He kept hoping that Arkytior would show up and save him, but so far she hadn't yet.

Koschei led him to a large lecture hall filled with Time Lords. A bunch of stern looking people in fancy robes at the center of the room, who had been giving the lecture on Earth, were looking at the two of them in shock. The audience, who were seated all around the lecturers in a circle, all suddenly looked at them as well. Most of them seemed to watch Koschei closely in fear and not to even notice Mickey at all.

"What is the meaning of this, Koschei? How dare you bring a gun into this lecture? You are disrupting the proceedings!" one of the men standing in the center of the room said.

"I'm sorry, sir. I had to bring this up with you right away though. I just found this human in Arkytior's room. He was hiding in her closet. No doubt he was going to kill her as soon as she returned from this very lecture," Koschei accused.

"That's not true. I would never hurt her. She's my friend," Mickey said.

"Are you aware that it's illegal for a human to be on Gallifrey?" one of the other lecturers said.

"Yes, but I didn't come here willingly. I just appeared. I'm not sure how," Mickey said.

"It's true, my Lords. I found him wandering around the Capitol lost. I was going to take him home," Arkytior said as she stood up from where she had been seated.

"You admit to harboring him in your room then, Arkytior?" the lecturer who had harshly rebuked Koschei before asked sternly.

"Yes, my Lord Borusa, I was afraid that harm would come to him. I know that humans are not supposed to be here, but it wasn't his fault. He appeared involuntarily. He shouldn't be punished for something that isn't his fault, my Lords," Arkytior argued.

"How do you know that he appeared involuntarily? Did you witness his appearance here?" Borusa asked.

"No, I did not. I believe him though. I can see it in his eyes that he wants to go home. Also I was alone with him for several hours today, and he never tried to harm me in any way. We just talked about his planet. As I'm sure that many of your honors know, I am very interested in the Earth and its people," Arkytior said as she started to shake from nervousness.

Mickey could see Borusa's eyes softening as it became apparent that Arkytior was beginning to get nervous and upset. Mickey could tell that the old Time Lord was fond of her from the way that he began to talk in a more gentle voice from that moment onward.

"I believe what you say to me, Arkytior. I'm just not sure that all is as it seems to be. The human could have meant you harm later on once he had gotten you to trust him. You are a very kind and caring person. Don't you think that he might have been taking advantage of your warm hearts?" Borusa asked.

"No, my Lord, I don't believe that. I believe he was honest with me," Arkytior said in a shaky voice.

"Arkytior, it's okay. I'm here with you," Theta said softly as he put his hand on her shoulder.

Arkytior seemed to draw strength from his touch as she stood up straighter now and seemed to be more confident. Borusa noticed it as well. Arkytior and Theta were meant for each other. He was sure of that whether they thought so or not.

"Even if he did come here by accident, the law is the law. Humans are forbidden on Gallifrey. I'm afraid that he must be executed immediately," Borusa said sadly.

"No! Please, no! Just let him go home!" Arkytior shouted.

Guards appeared and took Mickey away to the Dispersal Chamber, where Time Lords were put to death for breaking the Laws of Time. Arkytior screamed for them to stop and had to be restrained by Theta to keep her from running after the guards.

Arkytior glared at Koschei in anger, and he averted his gaze from her. He couldn't bear her disapproval.

"I'm sorry, Ari. I didn't know," Koschei said to himself in a low voice.

As the guards led Mickey to the Chamber, they were stopped by a woman who Mickey had never seen before but who nonetheless appeared to be strangely familiar to him.

"Stop right there. I am Persephone, head of the House of Lupinesglen. I order you to give the human to me. I wish to offer him sanctuary in my home with the rights granted to me as head of my house under the Laws of Rassilon," the woman said with her hand held out to stop them.

Mickey did a double take. It was Lily. Rose's mum was trying to help him. Arkytior must have contacted her telepathically. He hoped that she succeeded. She was his last hope now.

"I'm sorry, my Lady, but we can't do that. The law clearly states that humans found on Gallifrey must be killed," one of the guards answered.

"That law also goes on to say that if anyone under the death sentence is given sanctuary in one of the Great Houses then they can have their sentence suspended as long as they never leave the house again for the rest of their life. They would be in a state of permanent incarceration there," Persephone argued.

The guards looked at each other uncertainly. It was at that moment that Borusa appeared and stood in front of the guards.

Borusa said, "She is right. Under the old laws, she can offer him sanctuary; and his sentence will be lifted unless he leaves the house. In that case, he would then be executed immediately."

"Do you accept sanctuary?" Persephone asked.

"Yeah, of course I do. It's better than dying, isn't it?" Mickey said.

"Lord Borusa, I want you to witness that I am now granting this man sanctuary in my home. He is now to have the death sentence suspended," Persephone said.

"I'm afraid that that cannot be, my Lady Persephone. The death sentence is still in effect," another Time Lord said from behind the guards.

"I must protest this, my Lord Goth," Persephone said.

"That law offering sanctuary is only for Time Lords and Gallifreyans. It is not for inhabitants of other worlds," Goth said.

"Where does the law state this?" Persephone asked.

Goth pulled a long scroll out of his robes that he was carrying because he was in charge of Mickey's execution. He had to read the law out before the sentence took place. After a moment of searching, he found the old law. He showed it to Persephone, and she looked at it sadly. She nodded her head and refused to look at Mickey. Mickey wasn't angry at her though. She had tried at least.

Mickey was led into the Chamber and made to stand in the center of it. He could see Persephone standing with her head held down and looking away from him. He began to realize that this was truly the end for him. He began to say goodbye to Martha as mists began to surround him. The dispersal process had begun.

As the mists surrounded him and cut him off from sight, Mickey found himself suddenly inside of another room that he recognized as the Console Room of a TARDIS. Arkytior was standing at the controls smiling at him as she dematerialized the TARDIS and left the Chamber in a hurry.

"I turned her invisible and snuck in on stealth mode with the brakes turned off. They'll think that you're dead and that your molecules have been dispersed. As far as they're concerned, it's all over. Now it's time to take you home," Arkytior said with a mischievous grin on her face.

"That must have taken split second timing to avoid being dispersed yourself along with me. You're lucky you weren't killed too," Mickey said.

"I've gotten very good with this old machine from the museum. I've taken her out on joyrides a lot of times before without anyone knowing about it. Where to now, Mr. Smith?" Arkytior asked.

Mickey gave her the exact time that he had left with Rose and his home address. Arkytior soon dropped Mickey off as she materialized right outside of his house. She opened the doors, and the two of them stood at the entrance together.

"Goodbye, Mickey. I'll miss you. I'm glad that you're back safe and sound. Maybe I'll see you around sometime," Arkytior said as she hugged him tightly.

"About that, maybe you should forget my name," Mickey said.

"I know you in the future, but I'm not supposed to yet," Arkytior guessed.

"Yeah, that's right. You're going to have to erase your memory of me," Mickey said.

"I figured as much when you seemed to relax upon first seeing me and to trust me instantly. It's another reason I believed your story. I'll wait until you're inside your house until I erase my memory. Otherwise, you're going to have to answer a bunch of questions from me, and I'm sure that you won't want that," Arkytior said.

"Not really, no," Mickey said.

"Goodbye, Arkytior. I can promise you that we'll meet again," Mickey said.

As Mickey turned to leave, he ran right into Rose. Rose was smiling at him and Arkytior.

"How did you know that I'd be here? You were going to erase your memory," Mickey asked.

"So you're me?" Arkytior asked.

"That's right. I'm from the future though so you can't remember this meeting or Mickey's name and address. You do have to remember that you met him though, and that you brought him back home so that I'll be here to give you this message," Rose said.

"I've got it. I'll erase only those certain parts when I get into the capsule to leave," Arkytior promised.

Mickey, knowing that this would be the last time that he ever saw Arkytior, hugged her once more and said, "Good bye."

"Good bye, I'll still remember you as my friend from Earth even if I don't remember your name or exactly what you look like. I'll have to erase both of those from my memory. Oh, and I'll take you up on your suggestion. I'm going to try the chips whenever I get to go to Earth," Arkytior said.

Mickey laughed and said, "You're going to love them I promise you."

Arkytior then entered the TARDIS and dematerialized it. Mickey watched her leave with sadness even though he knew that she was still standing right next to him as Rose.

"I grew really attached to her. I'm going to miss her," Mickey admitted.

"I thought that you believed that I might still be Arkytior and that I only thought that I was Rose," Rose reminded him.

"I know that you're not now. You're very different from her even though there are similarities. This whole thing has convinced me once and for all that you're still Rose. I'll never doubt that again," Mickey said.

"I'm glad to hear that. It's a good thing that my other self was able to save you. I remembered you dying originally. It just shows how time is always in flux though. The first me was actually able to rewrite history and save you. I could feel it happening as it occurred. I'm sorry that I couldn't come and get you, but that would have caused a paradox. I didn't want to go through another one of those again so soon after the last one," Rose said.

"It's okay. It all worked out well anyway thanks to you. Well, the other you anyway," Mickey said.

Rose suddenly hugged him tightly and wouldn't let go for a long time. Mickey could feel her shaking all over now, and he knew that she was only now revealing just how upset almost losing him had made her. He could hear her beginning to sob now.

"It's okay. I'm okay now. You saved me. It's over with," Mickey assured her.

"I know. I just hate it that it had to happen at all," Rose said in a shaky voice.

"I still don't understand that. Why was I sent back to the past?" Mickey asked as Rose finally let him go.

"I think that it was always supposed to happen, Mickey. The paradox that was created earlier somehow took you back to Gallifrey with my first self in order to make sure that it did once everyone was put back in their proper times and places. I remembered meeting someone from Earth before this whole thing ever happened. It was only once you disappeared that I realized that it was you. My memory was a little murky after I removed bits of it after all," Rose explained.

"So you really did meet me a long time ago and didn't even know it," Mickey said in amazement.

"Apparently so, and I have you to blame for introducing me to chips. You got me addicted to them. I don't know whether to thank you or smack you," Rose said laughing.

"I'd rather you just thanked me. I've been through enough today," Mickey said.

"Okay. I'll give you a pass this time. Especially since I remember what you said about me to Arkytior. You said that you'd always love me and be there for me. It touched me then, and it touches me now. Thank you! Oh, and for the record, I did know how you felt. It was still nice to hear you say it anyway," Rose said warmly.

Shareen came running up to Mickey then and hugged him tightly with tears in her eyes. She refused to let him go and Rose smiled at her.

"She missed you as much as I did, Mickey," Rose said.

"Yes, I did. If you ever mention this again though, I'll deny it. I can't let people think that I've gone soft," Shareen said.

"I'd never want to have that on my conscience. I promise I won't say a word if you'll just let me go so that I can breathe again," Mickey said.

"Yeah, sure thing," Shareen said as she released him.

"It's good to have you back, Mickey. If you ever do anything like that again though, I'm going to make you wish that I had let the Time Lords disperse you after all," Rose said.

"Believe me. I never want to go time traveling without a TARDIS ever again. Oh, and I'm going to give Koschei something the next time I see him again," Mickey said.

"What's that?" Shareen asked innocently.

"A solid punch to the jaw!" Mickey said.

Rose was still bursting out laughing about his comment an hour later.

**Next: We return to the present day, as Francine finally starts to remember the truth about herself after she suffers a terrible loss. Will she open the fob watch at last?**


	66. Chapter 66

CHAPTER 66

I do not own Doctor Who, and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews!**

**This story takes place before Reunion of the Daleks in It's Better With Two.**

Rose had just been through a terrible ordeal after dying at the hands of the Black Guardian, but she was trying very hard not to let it show. She was putting on a mask of happiness for everyone, and for the most part she was happy just to be alive again. She was troubled though. She kept having nightmares about what had happened every night. She wondered if she would ever truly get over it.

Then her stress was added to even more as she received a phone call from Francine's number at her phone in the TARDIS. She wondered what she could possibly be calling her about. Francine almost never called her after all.

"Hello, Francine. What's up?" Rose asked with that new fake cheer of hers.

"This isn't Francine. It's her sister, Julia. I need your help," a young girl's panicked voice said on the other end of the line.

"What's wrong, sweetheart?" Rose asked with concern.

She had never met Julia before, but she had heard of her. She was Francine's twelve year old little sister. Francine had talked about her sometimes when they would travel together. Francine's face would always light up whenever she would talk about her, and Rose could tell that she was very close to her. She wondered what could have happened to get her to call her, a total stranger, out of thin air.

"Everything! My parents they're . . . ," Julia said and she began to break down and cry over the phone.

Rose quickly read her timeline over the phone, and she knew that Julia's parents had just been lost in a horrible plane crash. She would have brought them back to life, but she could sense that their deaths were a fixed point in time. She began to get upset and had to struggle to hold back her own tears.

"They're gone, aren't they?" Rose asked.

"Yes, and now Francine and I have nowhere to go. They're talking about a foster home. I don't want that," Julia said in fear.

"I'll see what I can do, Julia. I know someone who would take both of you in without hesitation. She's very nice. You'll like her," Rose said as she thought of Amy.

"Thank you. That's not my only problem though. Ever since it happened, Francine isn't acting right. She keeps talking funny and holding this fob watch a lot staring at it," Julia said.

"Has she opened it?" Rose asked in alarm.

"No. She just keeps looking at it. I don't even know where she got it from. I've never seen it before," Julia said.

"Where are you?" Rose asked.

"We're at our neighbor's house next door for now, but they're going to come soon to get us they said. I know you don't know me, but Francine said that you helped people in trouble. Please help me! I don't know where else to turn!" Julia said in desperation.

"I'll be there soon. Don't worry, Julia. I'll do everything I can," Rose said without hesitation.

"Thank you," Julia said in a trembling voice.

Rose hurried to help as she dematerialized her TARDIS, and then materialized it again outside of Francine and Julia's old home. A young brunette girl came running out to meet her, and Rose knew that it was Julia. Julia raced up to her and put her arms around her as she started to cry. Even though she didn't know the girl, she comforted her anyway.

"It's going to be okay, sweetie," Rose said in a gentle voice.

Julia continued to hold onto her for strength. She had only just met Rose, but she already felt a sense of safety and stability with her that was otherwise lacking in her life now. She was filled now with hope that this woman would make everything better again. She had formed a bond with her the minute that she had talked to her on the phone.

"Where's Francine?" Rose asked.

"She's still in our neighbor, Mrs. Van Owen's, house. She's acting stranger and stranger now. She won't come out even though I told her you were coming. She acted like she didn't even hear me," Julia said.

"Hello, Arkytior," Francine said as she stood at the doorway of the house.

"Francine?" Rose asked her uncertainly.

"That's not my name! I'm Selene. Don't act like you don't know me, Arkytior. We've known each other for centuries. I'm . . ." Francine said and then suddenly stopped.

She looked at Rose blankly for a minute and then asked, "Rose? What are you doing here? Did Julia call you?"

"She's been doing this all day. She just keeps saying that she's Selene. She also keeps acting like she doesn't know me. Now she's calling you Arkytior. She's lost it, Rose," Julia said in tears.

"Francine, we need to talk. There's something that you need to know about yourself," Rose said.

"That I'm really a Time Lady? Yeah, I figured that out already. Or do you mean that I've been living as a human for fifteen years? I figured that one out too," Francine said sarcastically.

"Fran, what are you talking about? You're not making sense," Julia said as she got more and more upset.

Francine looked at her oddly then and she now became upset herself as she said, "I don't know. I don't know what I'm saying! What's wrong with me?"

"It's going to be okay, Francine. Do you remember Amy? I know that she will want to take you and your sister in. She'll adopt both of you," Rose said.

"I barely know Amy. Why would she want to do that?" Francine asked.

Suddenly she switched personas again as she said, "Because she's your sister, you moron. Really! How did I manage as a human for so long with so little brains?"

"Selene, stop it! Julia is your sister too, and you're upsetting her," Rose said with fire in her tone now.

"Don't call her that! That's not her name!" Julia shouted at Rose.

"It is though. I'm sorry, Julia, but I'm not who you thought I was. I'm much better than her anyway though so you get a nice consolation prize," Francine said with a grin.

"Stop it! Stop it!" Julia said as she slapped Francine in the face.

"Ow! Why did you do that for?" Francine asked as she rubbed her face.

You need to start listening to me. I told you that you were upsetting her. You need to break it to her gently. She's already lost her parents. Now you're going to take her sister away from her too. That's a bit too much to take all at once. Rose said telepathically so as to not upset Julia further.

I am her sister! She will always have me in her life to watch over her no matter what. Francine responded back to Rose's mind.

Good. I'm proud of you for that. Rose thought back with the mental equivalent of a smile to accompany it.

At that moment, Amy's TARDIS arrived, and she came out of it with a worried expression. She went straight to Francine and hugged her tightly.

"I'm so sorry about what happened. You're going to come and stay with me now, okay?" Amy said with sadness in her voice

Amy then looked at Julia who was looking questioningly at her and added, "Both of you are."

"How did you find out about this? Rose just got here," Julia asked perceptively.

"You're a smart one. I'm beginning to like you already," Amy said with a gentle smile as she lightly patted the top of Julia's head.

"How much did Francine tell you about me?" Rose asked.

"She said that you were an alien with all kinds of cool powers," Julia said bluntly.

"That's right. The Doctor would appreciate that she added the cool part. Well one of my 'cool powers' is telepathy. I told Amy about the situation mentally," Rose revealed.

"Oh, that really is cool!" Julia said as she smiled for the first time now since Rose had arrived.

Her smile quickly faded though as she turned to Amy and asked, "Why do you want to take me in? You don't even know me."

"You're Francine's sister, Julia. I can't take her in without taking you too. I would never do that to either of you. Sisters are very important to each other. Believe me, I know," Amy said as she looked at Francine with a small smile on her face.

"Thank you," Julia said in an emotion filled voice.

Amy responded by putting her arm around her and smiling at her as she said, "You're going to like being with me. You'll see. I'm a pretty cool person to be around."

Then she looked up at Rose in shock and said, "Oh, God! I'm beginning to sound like him now too!"

"He gets in your head, doesn't he?" Rose asked with a giggle.

"I'm going to need an exorcist soon. I'm not about to go through life wearing bow ties and braces!" Amy said in a mock panic.

Julia didn't even know what or who she was talking about, but she was laughing at her anyway. For just a minute, she had forgotten her pain thanks to Amy's antics.

Amy flashed a cunning smile at Rose, and Rose knew that Amy was doing this on purpose to make Julia feel more at ease about going to live with her. Rose smiled back at her approvingly. Good job, Amy! Rose thought to herself.

Then the happy moment was brought to an abrupt end as Francine said, "Cliodna, I'm ready now."

They all turned to look at Francine holding her fob watch out in front of her with her other hand poised to open it. Rose quickly grabbed it away from her before she could though.

"Give it back!" Francine shouted.

"No. You're not doing this. Not only because of what it will do to Julia but also because you're doing it for the wrong reasons," Amy said.

"She's right. You just want to become Selene again so that you can escape from what just happened to your parents. You think that you can escape the pain by becoming your old self again. It doesn't work that way though. Even when you change back, you will still remember everything. All of the emotional connections will still be there too. Believe me I know. I did it myself, and I'm still the same as I was when I was human. I never became Arkytior again, and I don't miss her one bit to be honest about it," Rose admitted.

"No. You're wrong. It will work. I will become Selene again, and then the pain will go away!" Francine cried out in anguish.

"No, it won't," Rose said gently.

"Shut up! You're lying. It will work. Give me the watch!" Francine shouted at Rose as she started to try to slap her in the face.

"Stop it!" Julia shouted as she got in between the two of them.

Amy put her hand on Francine's shoulder and said, "I don't want you back this way. This won't make you happy again."

Francine broke down in tears then as she said, "I don't want to feel this way anymore! It hurts too much! I just want the pain to go away!"

Amy then put her arms around her sister as she began to cry on her shoulder.

Rose looked down at Julia with a warm smile as she said, "She's going to be alright now I think. No more craziness, Julia. Not the depressing kind of craziness anyway. Don't worry though. There's plenty of the good kind of crazy coming your way soon I'm sure!"

**Next: Whatever happened to Captain Jack Harkness and the dark side of Jenny anyway? Find out in the next chapter as Rose comes face to face with the darkness that was always hidden deep inside of her daughter.**


	67. Chapter 67

CHAPTER 67

I do not own Doctor Who, and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews!**

**This story takes place after Reunion of the Daleks in It's Better With Two.**

Rose hadn't heard any news about Jack Harkness for a while now, and it worried her a great deal. He had been kidnapped by her daughter Jenny's dark side, which she had had to split off of her in order to free herself of the possession of the Black Guardian. This had happened right after the final battle with the Guardian when she used Jack's Vortex Manipulator to escape in order to keep from being reunited with her good side once again.

She didn't want to believe that even the dark side of her daughter would ever do anything to Jack, but she couldn't help but worry about him. She was worrying about this so much that she didn't even notice Mickey standing right behind her. She jumped when Mickey tapped her on the shoulder.

"Don't do that! You made both my hearts skip a beat for a minute," Rose said as she tried to breath normally again.

"I'll never get used to you saying stuff like that about having two hearts," Mickey said.

"I'll tell you the truth, Mickey. Neither will I," Rose said as she smiled at him.

"So you still think of yourself as human? I know you still think of yourself as Rose," Mickey asked.

"That's because I am Rose. I do still keep thinking of myself as human, yes. It happens a lot even after all of this time. I consider it a good thing. What brought these questions on? I thought your visit to meet past me settled once and for all that I'm not Arkytior anymore," Rose said.

"It did. I know that you're still Rose. It's just that I don't get to see you much anymore so I honestly don't know if you've changed or not. I guess I was just wondering if . . . ," Mickey hesitated.

Rose looked at him in concern and said, "Hey, it's me. You can talk to me about anything. You always have been able to before."

"I just wondered if I could travel with you. You know like we used to do with the Doctor. I just hate it that I don't get to see you as much anymore. When I had that big long talk with Arkytior recently, it brought that home to me. I haven't talked with you like that for a long time. I don't know if you're still the same as you were or not. I just don't want us to drift apart, and I'm afraid that it's already happened," Mickey said.

"I hope not. You're one of my best friends, and I don't want that to ever happen between us. Of course, you can travel with me. I always wondered why you never did before to be honest. It'll be great to have the three of us reunited and traveling through time and space together. The universe needs to watch out because here comes trouble!" Rose said as she laughed.

Mickey began to smile then. He hated to admit that he had felt uncomfortable around Rose sometimes after she had become a Time Lady again. After that long day spent with Arkytior though all of that had vanished, and he felt almost at ease with her again. He realized that he had been distancing himself from her for a long time now, and he didn't want to do that anymore. He wanted his friend back.

I want you back too. Rose said inside of his mind.

It was Mickey's turn to jump now as Rose laughed at him inside of his mind.

Sorry about that! I don't read your thoughts normally, but I couldn't help reading those because they're so close to the surface. You're so worried, and you shouldn't be. You haven't lost me. I'm still your friend, and I always will be. You stop worrying about that right now, Mickey! Rose thought.

Can I talk normally? I don't like all of this telepathic stuff. Mickey responded.

"Sorry. I'm used to talking that way now. I forgot that it can seem weird and uncomfortable at first," Rose said out loud.

"I just prefer this way better," Mickey said.

"It's fine, Mickey. We used to date for goodness sake. You need to stop being so uncomfortable around me. I just changed my species not who I am on the inside. I'm still the same girl that you've always known. I promise," Rose said as she crossed her heart where a human's would be.

"Did you just do that without thinking?" Mickey asked surprised.

"Do what?" Rose said confused.

"You just crossed your heart, but you only did it with one of them, the one where a human's would be. Did you do that without thinking?" Mickey asked with a grin.

Rose looked surprised but then smiled as she said, "I guess I did. Does that answer your question about if I still think of myself as human or not, Mickey?"

"I believe it does," Mickey said as he began to laugh with joy.

"You need to get over this hang-up with Rose being a Time Lady, Mickey. I got over it a long time ago. She's just Rose, whether she's got one heart or two. Trust me on that," Shareen said as she came into the console room.

"Yeah, I understand. I'm not going to let it bother me anymore I promise," Mickey said to both women.

"Good. It's about time," Shareen said.

"Mickey's going to travel with us from now on," Rose said happily.

"That's been long overdue too. Welcome aboard, Mr. Smith," Shareen said with a giggle.

"Glad to be here. I should have come sooner," Mickey said.

"I can't argue with that," Shareen said.

"Rose, I need to talk to you immediately," the voice of Koschei called out over Rose's monitor. His image come onto the monitor scene as Rose flipped a switch.

"What is it? You sound like you're in a hurry," Rose said.

"Jenny's dark side has been spotted. She's leading a group consisting of all of the people that the real Jenny befriended while she was wandering through space alone all of those years. She's apparently convinced them that she's the real Jenny. She's been establishing a little group of her own to attempt to overthrow a military dictatorship on the Earth colony planet of Astra in the far future. She wants to create a base there from which to start her attempt to become the benevolent ruler of the universe according to rumors that I've heard from various sources of mine," Koschei said.

"I'm honestly not surprised. I saw her possible future once, and that was it. She was going to become a future ruler of the universe if she hadn't taken a different road," Rose said with worry.

"Jenny? That sweet girl could have become a dictator? I don't believe that," Shareen asked in disbelief.

"It could have happened. She wouldn't have been evil, Shareen. More like amoral. She would be willing to do anything in order to accomplish her own version of right and wrong. She would have lived by the motto of 'the ends justify the means'," Rose explained.

"She didn't though. She's too nice to have gone through with that," Shareen said.

"Yes, the real Jenny is too nice to ever go through with that. This version of her isn't completely the Jenny that we know though. This is her dark side all by itself. Her every bad thought without a good side there to help keep it in check," Rose said.

Mickey felt guilty yet again for not being around Rose enough since she opened the watch. He had never even gotten to really know Jenny or any of her children. He had met Jenny of course, but they were basically strangers to one another. Rose must have been picking up on his thoughts yet again because she suddenly smiled at him and put a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

"I'm arriving at the UNIT HQ parking lot in less than a minute. I never thought that I'd be meeting people there of all places. I used to be on the run from them at one time, and that was the last place where anyone would have been able to find me," Koschei said.

"Things change," Rose said.

"They do indeed especially with you around, Ari. Funny how that happens," Koschei said with a knowing grin on his face.

"I attribute it all to clean living and positive thinking," Rose joked.

The two TARDISes materialized within seconds of each other, and the two Time Lords both got out to meet in the middle of the parking lot. Koschei was just about to open his mouth to speak when he was taken totally by surprise by a combination one-two punch to the jaw by both Mickey and Shareen at the same time! Koschei was sent sprawling onto the pavement as he landed flat on his back.

"What the?!" Koschei said in surprise as he sat up.

"What was that all about? I thought you were just joking when you said that you were going to do that!" Rose shouted in anger.

"No, I wasn't. I owe him one for almost getting me killed," Mickey said.

"I owe him for that too. He almost caused me to lose one of my friends! Besides I don't like him anyway," Shareen said with an evil grin.

"What are you two talking about?" Koschei asked in total confusion.

Rose helped him up as she explained, "Do you remember that human that you found in my room back at the Academy?"

"You mean the human that was executed. Yes. I remember how upset you got about that. What does he have to do with anything?" Koschei asked.

Rose looked pointedly in Mickey's direction and then back at Koschei. Koschei's eyes widened as he suddenly understood now.

"No! Don't tell me it was you," Koschei said to Mickey.

"It certainly was. You almost got me killed. I owed you one," Mickey said.

"You're right. I did owe you a free punch at least. I'm sorry," Koschei said as he held out his hand to Mickey.

Mickey hesitated for a moment, and then he looked at Rose. Rose was giving him a pleading look. Mickey relented, and he decided to shake Koschei's hand for her sake.

"You're more forgiving than I would be," Shareen said as she gave Koschei the evil eye.

Thank you! Rose said in Mickey's mind.

Now that that potential powder keg had been defused, they could all get down to Koschei's reason for coming there. He had the exact coordinates in time and space where Dark Jenny had been spotted.

"Just follow these coordinates, and you'll be able to find her. I should tell you that the Captain is with her as well. He's been spotted too," Koschei said.

"Is he okay?" Rose asked.

"He appears to be fine. She does have him as a prisoner though. He's all chained up. One of my sources say that she doesn't seem to enjoy keeping him chained up for some reason. I don't know why. They say that she looks so sad whenever she goes to see him. She's supposed to visit him with food and water several times a day from what I hear," Koschei said.

Rose ignored his attempted joke about enjoying having had Jack chained up in the past as she said proudly, "She's taking care of him. I knew it. Even her dark side isn't truly evil. Jenny's too pure a soul to be that tainted."

"She's still keeping him prisoner though," Koschei pointed out.

"I know," Rose said sadly.

"It's not really her. It's just a part of her, an ugly part of her just like the one that we all have and keep hidden from everyone else most of the time. Her dark side is actually pretty benign too from what I heard. She's actually been helping people just like the real one would do. You have to remember that," Koschei said gently.

Mickey actually found himself being grateful to Koschei for the smile that that last remark of his put on Rose's face. When it came to dealing with Rose, Koschei was actually a halfway decent person sometimes Mickey thought to himself.

"Do you want me to go with you?" Koschei asked.

"No. I think just the three of us will be okay. I dropped Gwyneth off in the past to visit Charles. She said that she was feeling homesick," Rose said.

"That's what worries me. Whenever Gwyneth doesn't come along, it usually means that she knows that something bad is about to happen and doesn't want to be around for it. She does know your future after all," Shareen pointed out.

"Let's hope that this time is different," Rose said optimistically.

"Don't count on it," Shareen said with a groan.

"Three of you? If Gwyneth isn't going, how are there three of you? Is Penny going too to help rescue Jack?" Koschei asked out of curiosity.

"No. I'm not that crazy. Penny and a dark Jenny on the same ship is a very bad idea. There would be a major fight going on in no time. Penny would want to skin her alive for laying a hand on Jack, and I don't know what the darker Jenny might do to her. I decided not to let Penny know about Jack being gone. I'm just taking Shareen and Mickey this time," Rose said.

"She's going to be very mad about this. More than mad as a matter of fact. She'll be furious. You'll pay for that later I'm sure," Shareen warned.

"I'll worry about that when the time comes. Right now I have to find a way to capture this dark side of Jenny without hurting her," Rose said with a worried look on her face.

"Mickey's going with you? He's traveling with you now?" Koschei asked Rose.

"Yes. He decided to start today. Lucky him, huh?" Rose said with a grin.

Koschei looked surprise for a minute and then nodded as if he approved. Apparently, he agreed with Shareen that Mickey should have done this a long time ago as well.

Even Koschei thinks I made a mistake. Mickey thought to himself with a groan.

Koschei left then in his TARDIS, and the three friends set out together in Rose's TARDIS to the coordinates that Koschei had given to them. They arrived there in a matter of minutes, and Rose looked at the monitor to see that they had materialized inside of a large fortress like area.

"Is Dark Jenny here?" Mickey asked.

"I wish you wouldn't call her that. I don't know where the other Jenny is. I can't detect her telepathically. She's probably using her powers to block me from sensing her," Rose said.

"Can't you get around that? Use your cosmic powers," Mickey said.

"I don't have them anymore. Remember? The Dalek Emperor made sure of that," Rose said in an irritated voice.

"Oh, yeah. Sorry, I forgot," Mickey said with chagrin.

"It's okay. Sometimes I have to remind myself. I got too used to using them. Now I'll have to think of a way out of problems with just my wits and my Time Lady abilities. That's not bad though. It's all the Doctor has, and he does pretty well with it," Rose said with a serene expression on her face.

"I think that they'll come back eventually. They've been a part of you since you were a kid, Rose. I don't think that they're going anywhere for too long," Shareen said.

"I hope so," Rose said in a louder voice than she usually talked in.

Shareen looked at her oddly. It was almost as if she were putting on a show for someone else's benefit. Were they being listened to by someone? Was there a bug on the TARDIS?

Her suspicions were forgotten immediately as the monitor showed a large group of people surrounding their TARDIS within a minute. They were now trapped in here. Dark Jenny knew they were here! Shareen thought with horror.

Her thoughts were confirmed when the dark side of Jenny suddenly appeared inside of Rose's TARDIS right in front of them from within a dark burst of energy. Her expression contained no hint of malice whatsoever though. She smiled and seemed happy to see them.

"Hello, mother! I know that you're worried about me, but you don't need to be. I'm fine," Dark Jenny said cheerily.

Dark Jenny then hugged Rose to her surprise just like the regular Jenny would do. She immediately moved on to greet Shareen next.

"Hello, Aunt Shareen. It's so good to see you," Dark Jenny said as she moved to hug her as well.

Shareen stiffened with fear and put up her arms to protect herself. Dark Jenny actually looked hurt by this, and she moved away from Shareen.

"I would never hurt you," Dark Jenny said sadly.

"How do I know that? You're not the girl that I know anymore," Shareen said defensively.

"Yes and no. I am Jenny, but I'm not as much of a blind little optimist as I used to be. I see things for the way that they are now. Certain unpleasant things must be done in order to accomplish universal peace, and I will not let my conscience keep me from doing them anymore," Dark Jenny said coldly.

"That statement is what scares me about you," Shareen admitted.

"You have no reason to ever fear me, Aunt Shareen. You're a good person. The only people who need to fear me are the evil people who would stand in the way of my goals. I will show them no mercy," Dark Jenny said coldly.

"What if you decided that we were in your way? Would you chain us up like you did to Jack?" Shareen accused.

Dark Jenny winced and looked guilty at that accusation as she said, "I didn't want to do that, but he kept trying to escape and tell the Time Lords that I was going to make Astra my new base from which to start my new universal empire throughout time and space. Uncle Jack just doesn't understand. He's just like you."

Shareen looked at her in fear and shook as she said, "Are you going to chain me up too?"

Dark Jenny looked at her sadly as she lightly touched her shoulder. She had never wanted her friends to be afraid of her.

"No, of course not. I didn't want to do it to Jack either. I knew that he could take it though. You're just human. I wouldn't do that to you," Dark Jenny said gently.

Then Dark Jenny glowed with dark energy for a moment as she put her hand over Shareen's head. Shareen collapsed into Dark Jenny's arms, and she gently laid her on the floor of the TARDIS.

"What did you do to her?" Mickey cried out.

"She's okay, Mickey. She just put her to sleep," Rose said in a calm voice.

"That's right. I didn't lie. I'd never hurt her," Dark Jenny said.

"What you just did still wasn't right," Mickey said.

"I'm afraid that you're going to have to join her if you keep this up," Dark Jenny threatened.

"Is that what you're going to do to me too?" Rose asked her.

"If I have to," Dark Jenny said with no trace of emotion on her face.

"All that matters to you now is this insane dream of yours to establish yourself as the ruler of all of time and space, isn't it?" Rose asked.

"I'm not doing it for myself. I'm doing it to help others. I'll make it so that everyone can be happy and is taken care of. No one will ever have to worry about anything ever again. I'll take care of everyone and watch over them. Anyone who tries to start anything will be dealt with quickly so that nothing threatens the peace that I will establish. Everyone will love the world that I will create I just know it," Dark Jenny said happily.

"This isn't for you? Are you sure? Could it be that you're doing this because you're trying to create the kind of safe, easy world that you wish that you had always had from the start? Isn't this all just a response to what happened to you in the beginning of your life and how you were alone for so long?" Rose asked.

Dark Jenny jerked in response to Rose's words as though they had struck a nerve in her. She became very angry and began to glow with energy as she advanced menacingly towards her.

"What are you going to do, Jenny? Are you going to kill me?" Rose said as she stared her down without flinching.

"The name is not Jenny anymore, mother. I wanted a more mature sounding name. I am Jennifer now. As for what I'm going to do to you . . . ," Jennifer started to say and then she stopped in mid-sentence.

She gestured towards Rose, and dark energy began to pour out of her as she directed it straight at her mother. Mickey screamed out Rose's name as he ran to her side, but it was already too late. Rose fell to the ground just like Shareen had earlier, and Mickey caught her in his arms before her head could hit the TARDIS floor.

Mickey glared at Jennifer and she replied, "She's just asleep too. Don't look at me like that. I haven't hurt her."

"How do I know that? How can I trust anything that you say after what you just did to your own mother?" Mickey asked in a disgusted voice.

"You will learn to trust me. You and I will become the best of friends I'm sure of it. We'll make up for not really getting to know each other before," Jennifer said.

"Great. Now even Dark Jenny thinks I should have been around more!" Mickey said with a moan.

"The name is Jennifer, and I'm not evil!" Jennifer said miffed.

"You're not exactly Little Mary Sunshine anymore either," Mickey accused.

"Good. It's fine with me. Let the other Jenny do that job from now on. She's welcome to it. Let her stay in the world of fantasies where sticking to a strict moral code will make everything turn out alright in the end. I won't do it. I refuse to anymore. The universe will bend to my will from now on, and it will be much better off for it. You'll see, Uncle Mickey. You're going to realize that I'm right eventually," Jennifer said with a confident smile on her face.

She then waved her hand and sent the three of them to the specially constructed cell where she was keeping Jack. She could have sworn that she saw her mother winking at Mickey for a minute there, but it must have been a trick of her imagination. Her spies had reported that her mother had lost her Vortex powers recently. Without them, she would have had no ability to keep herself from falling asleep. Maybe she was just feeling guilty about what she had done and imagined that to ease her conscience. She told herself that everything would be alright in the end, and her mother would see that she was right in everything that she had had to do in order to accomplish that.

In the end, everyone would admit that hers was the only true and right way to universal peace and harmony. She would make a better world for everyone. All that they had to do was to listen to her and let her make all of the decisions from now on. Then everything would be fine. She knew what was best after all for all of her new subjects whether they knew it or not. They would learn that someday. Everyone throughout the entire universe would all soon learn that she was the only one who could lead them all out of the darkness that they were all living in now and into the light.

**Next: Rose vs. Jennifer as she attempts to peacefully end the threat of her rule over all of time and space. Can she possibly win?**


	68. Chapter 68

CHAPTER 68

I do not own Doctor Who, and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews!**

**This story takes place after Reunion of the Daleks in It's Better With Two.**

Jennifer was in the middle of giving out orders to her soldiers as they prepared to overthrow the corrupt government of Astra when suddenly a woman materialized in the middle of the room out of nowhere.

"Let go of my fiancée and my friends now!" Penny Miller shouted with a furious expression on her face.

"Hello, Penny. I assure you that Jack is fine, and so is everyone else," Jennifer said.

"Release them now!" Penny said firmly.

"Or you'll do what?" Jennifer challenged her.

Penny responded by holding up a gauntlet that surged with power. Energy began to pour forth from it, and Jennifer began to scream in agony!

"I said release them!" Penny screamed in an unearthly voice.

"What's happened to you?" Jennifer asked as she gritted her teeth through the pain shooting through her body.

"I didn't want to do it, but you forced me to. I used Jack's access codes to break into the section of Torchwood's archives that were full of captured alien artifacts. I picked this gauntlet because it looked the most impressive. I have no idea what it really is or exactly what all it can do. It seems to be doing pretty well so far though. It's been able to do whatever I want it to do. All I have to do is imagine something, and it gives me the power to do it," Penny said.

"You don't know what that might do to you. Take it off," Jennifer said in concern.

"I'll risk anything to free Jack. I want him back," Penny said in a voice filled with pain and worry.

"I haven't hurt him. I'm just keeping him here until my plans are complete," Jennifer tried to reassure her.

"I want to see him. I need to be sure of that for myself," Penny said.

That was when Jennifer's soldiers began to fire at Penny with their blasters. Jennifer yelled at them to stop, but they were too frightened of Penny to think straight.

They kept firing despite Jennifer's orders, but luckily for Penny the gauntlet provided a force field to protect her with as it ceased its attack on Jennifer.

"Stop! I don't want her killed. She's my mother's friend," Jennifer shouted.

"It's good to know that I still count for something with you," Rose said from behind them. Jennifer turned to see that Jack, Shareen, and Mickey were standing there with her.

"Why am I not surprised? How did you wake up so quickly?" Jennifer asked as she smiled.

"I was never asleep in the first place. Your powers never reached me, Jenny. Oswin gave me an extra force field generator to wear. You never know when it'll come in handy," Rose said as she pointed to a small device on her waist.

"I'm Jennifer now, Mother. I told you that before. Do you think that you can possibly calm Penny down? She's scaring my people to death," Jennifer said.

"Yes, I can see that, Jenny. What is that thing, Penny?" Rose asked.

"You broke into Torchwood to get that, didn't you? I never should have given you my access code. I thought that I could trust you not to do something like this. You have no idea what you're playing around with here, Pen. I don't even know what that thing is, or what it might do to you," Jack said.

"It's from Gallifrey. It looks like something ancient from way before the time that I was born. I bet Mum would know more about it than me," Rose said.

Jack looked at Rose oddly for a minute and then said, "Sometimes even now I still forget that you're a Time Lady, Rosie. Do you know what it is then?"

"It kind of reminds me of the Gauntlet of Rassilon, but I know that that's not it. The real one's still being worn by Rassilon in the Time Lock. If it has the same powers as his though, Penny could manipulate time itself with it," Rose said.

"Really? That would be so cool!" Penny said with a grin.

"Take it off, Pen. You don't know what that might be doing to you. It's made for a Time Lord to use not a human," Jack warned.

"It shouldn't hurt her if she hasn't been using it too long. Long term exposure to its energies would be potentially lethal though. There I go sounding like you know who again. I've really got to hire an exorcist," Rose said.

"This isn't funny! Wearing that thing could be killing her!" Jack shouted at her.

"No, I'd know if it was," Rose said and then winced as if she had just made a huge mistake.

"How? You lost your powers," Shareen said suspiciously.

"I'm still a Time Lord despite all of that. I have abilities that humans can't even dream of. That's how I know!" Rose shouted at her with a guilty look on her face.

Shareen was taken aback by this. Rose had never talked to her this way before. She had also never bragged about being a Time Lord before. What had just happened?

"Mother, you don't sound like yourself at all," Jennifer said with a look of worry on her face. Even she had noticed that Rose was acting strangely.

"You should talk. No wonder she's acting weird. You've stressed her out with all of your crazy behavior," Mickey said.

"Don't blame me. Whatever's causing her to act this way isn't my fault," Jennifer said.

"Of course it's not your fault. Why would you ever think that it was? Oh, I don't know. Maybe because you kidnapped most of the people I care about and held them here against their will!" Penny shouted as her gauntlet began to power up again.

"Do you see what you've done? Mickey was right. All of this is your fault and yours alone. I want nothing more to do with you. You're no longer my daughter, Jenny. I'm going to stop you, and then I'm going to put you in the prison planet of Shada forever!" Rose said in a hate-filled voice. Something was different now about her. It was like she was someone else.

Jennifer looked like someone had just punched her in the gut as she said in a low voice, "You can't mean that."

"Oh, I do. I want nothing whatsoever to do with you anymore. I've given up on you," Rose said with no expression on her face.

"I'm sorry, Mother. I'm so sorry!" Jennifer said in tears.

"Rose, she's your own daughter. What's wrong with you?!" Shareen said in an upset voice.

"She's been driven nuts by her that's what it is. I don't agree with throwing Jennifer in that place though. That's a little much," Mickey said.

"Just stand aside, Rose. I'll take care of her for you then when you've cooled down you can get her some help. Maybe you can put her back together with her good side," Penny said. Even Penny in her enraged state didn't agree with Rose just giving up on Jennifer like that and had no idea why she was acting this way either.

"Humans! You're too emotional and overly sentimental. You don't hold onto a failure. You just toss it aside," Rose said in a cold, dead voice.

"I'm sorry!" Jennifer said in a voice filled with pain and sorrow.

Jennifer attempted to walk up to her mother and hug her, but she was blocked by Rose.

"Don't you get it yet? I don't want to forgive you. I HATE YOU!" Rose shouted at her.

Jennifer collapsed on the floor in front of her and burst into tears. She was broken now. She was closer to Rose than anyone else, and her mother's complete and utter rejection had devastated her completely.

"She doesn't really mean that," Penny said as she attempted to comfort Jennifer. She had gone from being angry at her to feeling sorry for her in a matter of moments.

"What's wrong with you, Rosie? The Rose that I know would never say that to anyone much less one of her own daughters," Jack said.

"Maybe you don't know me at all, Captain Harkness," Rose said coldly.

Rose then moved toward Jennifer and moved her arm back as if she were going to slap her.

"What are you doing?!" Shareen shouted.

Jennifer looked up to see her mother about to slap her as she kneeled before her on the floor. Then she looked at her face and saw that there was a conflict of emotions there. She knew then. She knew that the gauntlet was evil, and that it was trying to take over her mother!

Rose screamed as she used every ounce of willpower that she possessed to drive the horrible thing that was in her mind out of it. She then pulled the gauntlet off of Penny's hand and threw it to the floor. She was so tempted to put it on even now, but she resisted its pull. She grabbed one of the blasters off of Jennifer's soldiers and emptied it at full blast into the gauntlet at point blank range. The gauntlet was completely disintegrated, and Rose breathed out a huge sigh of relief.

She then rushed over to Jennifer and hugged her tightly as she apologized to her over and over again by saying, "It wasn't me. It wasn't me. I would never say that!"

"I know. I know, Mother. I could see you fighting it. This is my fault. If I hadn't started all of this in the first place, then Penny wouldn't have stolen that horrible thing. You were almost lost forever to whatever hateful, horrible thing was in that gauntlet because of me. I was wrong to ever do this," Jennifer said.

Jennifer stood up and said to her soldiers, "Everyone, go home. I'm calling this off. I don't want to do this anymore. I can see that I am no more worthy to lead the universe into an age of peace than anyone else. I have no great wisdom despite what I've been told about my future. People should run their own lives. That's for the best. Hopefully someday the people of Astra will free themselves once they've had enough of the tyranny that rules over them."

The people who Jennifer had brought there then began to disperse. Some of them smiled at her as if they felt that she had made the right decision while others looked at her in disappointment. She knew though that she had proven this day that she wasn't fit to lead anyone, and that her vision of how she should fix things was wrong. Someday Jenny would look back and realize that this was the day that she had begun to learn what true wisdom was and had started on the road to becoming a real leader.

"What was that thing, and why didn't it affect me?" Penny asked horrified.

"You're human, that's why. It was tuned in enough to your brainwaves to obey your commands, but your mind wasn't advanced enough for its tastes. There was a living presence in that gauntlet, and it was waiting for a Time Lord or some other advanced being to come in contact with it. It hitched a ride with you and obeyed you because it knew that you would bring it to me. It saw me in your mind. It told me so. It wanted to be free, but it had to break my will first in order to take over my body. It almost did, but when it tried to turn me against my child that's when it made a huge mistake! No one makes me hurt my own children! No one," Rose said sternly.

"That's why you were saying all of that stuff about being a Time Lord. I knew that something was wrong from that moment on. You never brag about that," Shareen said with a satisfied look on her face.

"Yeah, that's right," Rose said as she tried to hide the guilt that she felt.

She knew that whatever the thing that had almost taken her over was that it had gotten inside of her through a momentary chink in her mental armor. She had felt guilty for lying about how she knew that Penny hadn't been harmed. She had to cover for the momentary goof that she had made in letting that information slip. That single moment of self-hatred that she had felt about that had been enough of an opening for the thing in the gauntlet to come through and take her over for a while.

"I want to go with you, Mother. I need to be watched over so that I don't do anything stupid like this ever again. I don't trust myself anymore. Maybe I am evil," Jennifer said.

Rose shook her head violently as she said, "No, you're not, baby! I'll never believe that. Ever!"

"Now that sounds like Rose," Penny said to Shareen who nodded at her in agreement.

"You can stay with me for a while, but you're going to have to reunite with your other self sooner or later," Rose said.

"No, I don't want to do that. I'll die," Jennifer said in fear.

"No, you'll just be complete again. You need your other self in order to keep you from doing something like you just did ever again. You have to go back, Jenny," Rose said soothingly.

"I'll have to think about it. I just don't want to right now. Okay?" Jennifer said fearfully.

"It's okay. We'll wait until you're ready," Rose said.

Jennifer then said, "I'm sorry, everyone. I apologize to each and every one of you. Especially you, Uncle Jack."

Jennifer put her arms around him and began to shake with emotion. Jack said, "I forgive you. You're not really yourself right now. I know that you wouldn't regularly do something like that. You need to go back with your other self as soon as you can, Jen."

"I'll think about it," Jennifer said uncertainly.

They all left then as Rose assured Jennifer that she could stay with her as long as she needed to. Mickey was wary about having Jennifer around, and Shareen felt extremely uncomfortable around her as well.

Jack and Penny meanwhile were more determined than ever to accelerate their wedding plans. This whole experience had made them realize just how much they loved each other and how they needed to do something about the wedding sooner rather than later.

Later on when Rose was alone in the console room, Gwyneth came to her and said, "You're going to have a hard time keeping this secret. You're not used to lying especially to those who you love. You have to though no matter how much it hurts you. The secret must be kept until the time is right, or everyone you care about will be lost."

"Why am I not surprised that you know all about it? You're right that I need to keep my secret. I know that. It's just that I was almost taken over forever because of it. That makes things even worse. I feel like I'm doing something wrong," Rose said.

"You're not, Rose. You'll see that someday. That secret being kept will be what helps save you and everyone else in your greatest moment of need," Gwyneth said in a tender voice.

"Thank you for that and for calling me Rose instead of Miss Rose," Rose said with heartfelt emotion.

"You're not my employer. You never were. You've always been more than that. I can see that now. You're my friend, and I'm going to help you in every way that I can other than telling you the future," Gwyneth said.

"I think that I'm going to need someone around besides the Doctor to confide in about this. So you're going to help me a great deal by just helping me to do that. Thanks, Gwyneth," Rose said.

"Anytime, Rose," Gwyneth said with a warm smile.

**Next: Jack and Penny start to talk seriously about their marriage now as they prepare to move things up. During this planning is when a dark evil from Penny's past strikes as Mr. Sin returns. As if Rose didn't have enough to worry about lately. Now she has the Peking Homunculus to deal with once again.**

**As for what Rose's secret is for those of you who haven't guessed, you'll find out soon. All will be revealed.**


	69. Chapter 69

CHAPTER 69

I do not own Doctor Who or Star Wars, and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews!**

Ever since Penny had been reunited with Jack, the two of them had been discussing the marriage non-stop. What Jennifer had done had been a wake-up call to both of them and had spurred them to finally set a time and place for the big event at last.

They were going to be married in two months, if everything went according to plan, at the newly rebuilt Torchwood once it was finished. Jack wanted it to be there both because of the security and so that he could have all of the people that he knew there in attendance.

Penny didn't have that many people to invite in comparison really. Instead of all of the members of a top secret organization, she would just be bringing her mother, Emma, Rose, Oswin, Gwyneth, and Shareen. She might even consider inviting Mickey since he had started traveling with Rose lately, and she didn't want to snub him even though she really wasn't that close to him.

Jennifer, on the other hand, was not invited after what she had done even if she did supposedly regret it. Penny was not having that woman anywhere near her wedding or Jack for that matter ever again. She had been so glad when she heard that Rose had left her with Jenny, her good self. Let her be Jenny's problem. She could take care of her as far as she was concerned and leave Rose out of it.

She knew that Rose had enough to worry about after all, especially lately. She was keeping something from her. She knew that. There was some kind of secret that Rose wasn't telling anyone, and she didn't like that. Not one bit.

She knew that it must be for a good reason, but it still hurt that Rose wasn't telling her. She was used to Rose telling her everything after all. She considered Rose to be her best friend. She owed her a lot because she had helped turn her from a lonely depressed girl into the happy, energetic person that she was today.

She just wanted to help her with whatever it was that was bothering her in return. It hurt to be shut out like she was, and she knew that Rose didn't even realize that she was doing it. She also realized that she was trying to protect her and everyone else from whatever was going on, but it still hurt all the same.

_I'm sorry for not telling you, but the less people who know about the incredible danger that's all around us all of the time the better._ Rose said out of the blue one day into Penny's mind while Penny stood staring off into space with a troubled look on her face in the console room of Rose's TARDIS.

Penny looked at Rose in a combination of aggravation and surprise.

_I hate it when you do that! You're reading my body language again, aren't you?_ She replied to her in her thoughts.

_Yes. I can't help it. You broadcast what you think so loudly in everything that you do after all. I just want you to know that I don't like keeping secrets from you. I'm doing it for a reason though. Let me show you just what I have to deal with all of the time now. I'm going to give you a glimpse of the deadly danger around me at all times lately, the danger that I'm trying to protect you and everyone else in my life from. Don't say or do anything once you see it. Don't let on that anything's different at all._ Rose warned her.

Suddenly Penny could see dozens of Silence all around them! They were here right in the middle of the console room right next to them. They could easily kill Penny at any moment, but yet all they did was watch. At least that was all that they did so far.

Penny struggled not to react to their presence there. She did her best to keep her face and body completely normal as she tried not to scream out in fear at their presence there.

_Why couldn't I remember having seen them before? I remember seeing them now._ Penny asked Rose in her thoughts.

_It's a part of the Silence's nature that everyone forgets about them as soon as they look away from them, but remembers everything about them as soon as they see them again._ Rose explained.

_Why am I still remembering them now then? I looked away from them out of fear when I saw them a minute ago and haven't looked back since._ Penny asked.

_I'm allowing you to. My secret has to do with them. They're always watching now and just waiting to strike when the time comes. There's something that they don't know about me though, something that I'm waiting to reveal to them at the right moment._ Rose thought back to her with a quick smile on her face.

_If everyone forgets them when they look away, then how do you remember them; and how are you helping me to do it? _Penny asked.

_That__is my secret!_ Rose replied as she gave her a deep enigmatic grin that covered her entire face. It only lasted for a second, but it was there.

The Silence either didn't see Rose's smile for some reason, or they didn't choose to acknowledge it because Penny didn't see any of them even so much as give them a glance.

Then Penny realized just what Rose was trying to tell her, and she had to struggle very hard to keep from smiling herself.

_Thank you for telling me! I won't let the cat out of the bag I promise._ Penny replied to Rose mentally.

_I know. Now I want to give you a choice. Do you want to keep remembering them or to go back to normal where you keep forgetting them? _Rose asked.

_I want to remember if that's possible. I may need to remember in order to help you. I have to keep being able to see them no matter how much they freak me out._ Penny answered without hesitation.

_I thought so. I wouldn't have expected anything less from you. It's done then. I've linked your mind to mine just enough where you can always see them now._ Rose replied with a proud tone in her mental voice.

Shareen walked into the console room at that moment, and Penny could see her briefly glance at one of the Silence before quickly looking away. Penny realized that Rose had given the same ability to her too. Shareen knew as well. She realized now that Rose was slowly letting her closest friends in on what was going on one by one in secret.

"Do you know that I met one of Jack's friends from Torchwood today while the two of you were going through your wedding plans together? Apparently she came with him and was just hanging around in the background waiting on him. Her name's Gwen Cooper, and it shocked me just how much she looks and sounds like Gwyneth. I actually thought that it was her for a while, and she was pulling a prank on me," Shareen said out loud to Penny with a laugh.

"Yes, I've met her before too, and I thought the exact same thing. I even kept called her Gwyneth for a while until Jack finally managed to convince me that it really wasn't her. I asked him why he had no reaction when he met Gwyneth for the first time after having known Gwen for so long, and all he said was that he was used to seeing strange things so he didn't even blink anymore when he came across something like that. He's a weird one sometimes, my Jack," Penny said with a huge grin on her face.

"It's going to be hilarious when they both meet face to face at the wedding I bet," Shareen said.

"I honestly can't wait to see it. I bet everyone's going to break their necks doing a double take," Penny said with a giggle.

"Is it sad that when I met Gwen that I didn't freak out at all? I just smiled and pointed out the similarities between her and Gwyneth to the Doctor. That was even before I was stranded back in Pete's World for the second time. I was already used to things like that even then," Rose admitted.

"You were so used to sharing the strange and bizarre with him that I'm not surprised," Shareen said as she laughed and shook her head.

"If two people were ever made for each other, it's those two," Penny agreed.

"I'd say that you and Jack seem to fit each other pretty well too," Rose said.

"Yeah, we do. I've never met anyone like him. We just seemed to have something between us from the start when I first met him in that bar while I was looking for you," Penny said with a look of happiness on her face as she thought back to her memories of that moment.

"I know. He knew it too. I could tell that he was under your spell from the moment that he first started talking about you," Rose admitted.

"My spell? You make me sound like a witch," Penny said with a giggle.

"I'm just saying that you accomplished something that I never would have thought possible. You made Captain Jack Harkness stop hitting on every single person that he meets! Ever since he met you, that all came to an end. It feels like the end of an era. I feel like we should be in mourning or something," Rose said with a grin.

"I'm certainly glad that he stopped hitting on me. I like Jack, but I didn't like being hit on every single time that we met," Shareen said.

"That was just Jack's way. I think it came just as automatic to him as breathing does to everyone else. He even hit on me at first until we became more like brother and sister," Rose said.

"He still seems to think of you that way too. I've noticed that he watches over you like you're his kid sister every time he comes around," Shareen noted.

"Yeah, it's sweet and yet annoying at the same time," Rose said.

"Now you know how Jenny feels," Shareen said.

"I've gotten better towards her about being so overprotective. I'm nowhere near as bad with her as I used to be," Rose defended herself.

Penny laughed as her two friends playfully ribbed each other. She loved their easy almost sisterly relationship together. The two of them had been friends together for decades, and it showed.

Even through all of this playful banter though, the three women were still tense and not quite themselves as they could still see the Silence everywhere around them. Their constant presence there was the elephant in the room that no one else dared to talk about.

Just then the TARDIS landed, and the three women exited out into Mickey and Martha's front yard as they waited for Mickey to join them. Penny breathed out a sigh of relief when she noticed that the Silence didn't follow them, and that there were none of them around anywhere outside.

That sense of relief didn't last for long though as a small doll that looked very familiar to Penny suddenly appeared from around the corner of Mickey and Martha's home carrying a huge butcher's knife in its tiny little hand! It started running towards the three women with a maniacal laugh coming out of its mouth.

"Mr. Sin! I can't believe this. I thought he died a long time ago back when we first met," Penny said.

"He should have. I burnt out his brain. Oh, well. I can still fix that, powers or no powers," Rose said as she made a lightsaber* appear out of the pocket dimension that Time Lords sometimes used to store things in.

"Is that what I think it is?" Shareen asked in disbelief.

"Yeah, it is. I made this under instructions from Yoda himself," Rose bragged.

She switched on the lightsaber, and a humming pink blade with a golden glow came out of it. Mr. Sin stopped in his tracks and eyed this new weapon warily.

"Has Mickey seen that? I bet he hasn't. I imagine he'd have already had you make him one if he had," Shareen said with a chuckle.

"Yeah, he would have. Can you imagine Mickey using this thing?! He'd have his arms and legs all sliced off in no time, and then Martha would be shooting me with one of UNIT's fancy new weapons that would give me a really, really bad hair day. I'd like to hold onto my regenerations for as long as I can thank you very much. That's why this stays just between us," Rose said firmly.

Mr. Sin and Rose started to engage each other in a staring contest then as they each waited for the other to flinch first and show a sign of weakness before either one of them would make the first move.

Someone else made the first move instead as the sound of a blaster firing rang out, and Rose used her Time Lord reflexes to block the bolt of energy that it shot her way with her lightsaber. It reflected off of the lightsaber's blade and hit a nearby tree, cutting it in half instantly!

"Sorry, Mickey," Rose said to herself as she turned to face this newest threat.

A man dressed in Chinese robes with a mask over his face had appeared from behind the house holding a futuristic blaster that Rose estimated was from the 51st century in his hand. He aimed the blaster straight at Rose's head as he came to stand right beside Mr. Sin.

"Magnus Greel, I assume?" Rose asked.

Magnus Greel was Mr. Sin's partner in crime. He had escaped the 51st century along with the evil little homunculus in order to avoid prosecution as a war criminal for his role in the deaths of many innocent people. He had been called the Butcher of Brisbane and rightfully so from what Rose had heard of him. He had escaped to the 19th century in a time machine that was based on flawed technology that disrupted his cellular structure and made his body start falling apart as soon as he had arrived there.

He had eventually died after his body's cellular structure collapsed completely after the Doctor pushed him into a device called the Catalytic Extraction Chamber. Greel had been using this on others to steal their life forces in order to keep his own body from falling apart. The device immediately sucked out his life force completely and didn't even leave a body behind when it was finished with him.

Yet here he was alive again just like Mr. Sin who she knew that she had personally destroyed a while back. Rose had no idea how that could be. She had a feeling that she was about to find out though. Megalomaniacs like Greel always gave everything away like that sooner or later because they loved the sound of their own voice.

"How do you know who I am?" Greel asked suspiciously as he continued to hold the gun on Rose.

"I've heard about you from a mutual acquaintance of ours. I believe that you know him. His name's the Doctor," Rose said with a grin as she got ready for the eventual rant that she knew the Doctor's name always brought out in his enemies.

"Oh, yes. I know the Doctor. That meddling Time Lord killed me and tried to kill Mr. Sin as well. Mr. Sin survived though. A backup system that I installed inside of his mechanical body to reactivate him in case anyone ever tried to destroy him rebooted his systems just enough where he was able to repair himself. Then he rewired and improved the Catalytic Extraction Chamber and used it to steal the life force from some miserable street urchin in order to revitalize my cells and restore my body once more. Unfortunately, it still couldn't undo the cellular disruption that I had from before. My body is still collapsing, and I still needed more victims to suck the life energy from in order to keep my body from collapsing completely once more. Mr. Sin has been using the Time Cabinet to get new victims for me from throughout time and space ever since," Greel said.

"That explains why he was attacking people then when I first met him back in the 1950's.** He was trying to absorb their life forces to give to you. Have you improved the Extraction Chamber then and miniaturized it so that you can carry it around with you, Mr. Sin? You have a portable version of it now, don't you? You can then use it drain the life out of your helpless victims to give to your creepy friend here," Rose guessed.

"She is the one who tried to kill you before, isn't she?" Greel asked Mr. Sin.

Mr. Sin nodded and said, "She would have surely killed me for good this time if you had not found me and gave me another pig's brain before too much time had passed."

Greel eyed Rose with interest now as he said, "So, you are the infamous Rose Tyler, then? The wife of the Doctor! The two of you are well suited for each other. Both of you are nothing but trouble makers of the highest order. You have absolutely no respect for your intellectual superiors."

"I don't see anything superior about you. You permanently destroyed your body beyond repair and basically turned yourself into a vampire in order to survive. Furthermore, your one and only friend's a killer pygmy with the brain of a pig. Yeah, I'm really impressed with your superior intelligence alright!" Rose said sarcastically.

"That is where you are wrong, Time Lady. Mr. Sin is not my only friend. Not anymore. Mr. Sin, in his journeys through time and space to find new volunteers for the Extraction Chamber, found a new friend for me. He came across a Raston Warrior Robot that had been deactivated and left behind after a terrible war. He brought it back to me, and I reprogrammed it. Mr. Thanatos, come here," Greel said.

Greel began to laugh as the robot suddenly appeared out of nowhere at lightning speed. It stood in a defensive fighting stance as it awaited further orders.

"Kill the two humans but bring the Time Lady to me, Mr. Thanatos. I will use her life energy along with that of all of her regenerations to help replenish my body for a long time to come. Now do you respect my intellect, Time Lady?" Greel taunted.

As Mr. Thanatos went into action and started attempting to kill the three of them, Rose said, "I still think you're an idiot. You're just an incredibly lucky idiot."

"Capture her quickly! I no longer wish to hear the sound of her irritating prattle," Greel ordered.

"Everybody's a critic. I've been told I have a lovely voice. I used to be a singer you know back in the day," Rose said as she began to block or deflect all of Mr. Thanatos' attacks with a combination of her lightsaber and her Vortex Screwdriver.

One of Mr. Thanatos' deadly metal projectiles that he shot from his hands was not blocked or deflected by Rose though, and it managed to reach a different target altogether as it struck Mickey, who had just come up his driveway after arriving there for his meeting with Rose. Mickey fell to the ground without a sound; and Martha, who had been with him, screamed out his name in fear.

Rose became unbelievably angry then, and it took every ounce of willpower that she had at this point to keep from revealing her secret before everyone right here and now in order to quickly dispose of Greel and his friends once and for all. If it meant that any of her friends might die though, then she would abandon her secret in an instant. It was not worth the life of the people that she cared about.

Someone else arrived at that moment to help take that decision out of her hands though as Captain Jack suddenly came running up the driveway. Apparently he had come with Mickey and Martha as well.

"At last! I knew if we waited here long enough, Captain Harkness would arrive. Two of his allies lived here according to all historical records. Once I learned of the good Captain's powers, I knew that he would be the way out of my horrible state. I hadn't anticipated the Time Lady's arrival as well, but it is of no importance. At last, I have the cure to my condition in my grasp. If I can learn the secret to your immortality and regenerative abilities, then I can use it to fix myself. Captain Harkness, you are the key to making myself into a god!" Greel shouted with joy.

"You sound more like something from the other side of the fence from a god if you ask me," Jack said.

"Your opinions do not matter to me. All that matters to me is that I can use you to finally make myself whole once again. Mr. Thanatos, go to Plan Alpha. Now!" Greel ordered.

Mr. Thanatos stopped fighting Rose, and then exploded outwards with a massive burst of energy that immediately knocked everyone in front of him out cold and sent the robot crashing to the ground in a state of complete power loss. With all of his enemies defeated, Greel cackled happily to himself as he and Mr. Sin dragged Rose and Jack into the Time Cabinet.

"I will use the life force of the Time Lady and the secret of the Captain's powers to cure myself at last, Mr. Sin. Magnus Greel will be reborn in this far distant age from my own, and then I will return in my full glory to avenge myself upon those who did this to me. The future will belong to us, Mr. Sin. You and I will rule over it with an iron fist!" Greel shouted with glee as he prepared to leave in the Time Cabinet with his two new prisoners.

It seemed that Magnus Greel had triumphed at last.

***Readers of my crossover title, Time and Space, will already be familiar with this weapon. **

****See Chapter 11 of this title for Rose and Penny's first encounter with Mr. Sin. **

**Next: Will Rose and Jack be able to escape from Magnus Greel, or will they wind up sacrificed in order to bring about his return?**


	70. Chapter 70

CHAPTER 70

I do not own Doctor Who and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews!**

Just as it seemed like all was lost, a high pitched noise could be heard coming from out of nowhere, and different parts of Magnus Greel's Time Cabinet began to spark and explode as they started to become overloaded and burnt out. Greel screamed out in rage and frustration as he looked frantically for the cause of this sudden attack.

He didn't have to look far as he soon spotted a man in a bow tie and a tweed jacket come slowly walking up to him holding out a long cylindrical tube with a green light on the end of it. Running after him was a brunette woman who looked like she was enjoying herself as she came up to him with a huge smile on her face.

"So, Doctor, what kind of alien invasion is this? It looks like a pretty weird one," Clara Oswald asked as she looked at the very strange duo that was Magnus Greel and Mr. Sin.

"They're not aliens, Clara. These two are homegrown I'm afraid. They both come from Earth in the 51st century," the Doctor said as he continued to use his sonic screwdriver to destroy as much of the Time Cabinet as he could.

"So things really go downhill in the 51st century then? It's not like Porridge's Empire it seems. They seemed to be doing much better than these lot except for those pesky Cybermen and Mr. Clever," Clara said.

"You can't judge a whole century by the worst examples of it, Clara. This is Magnus Greel and Mr. Sin, two of the worst war criminals of all time. Believe me when I say that they're nothing like most of the people of that time period at all. They're more like throwbacks to the past. Quite literally really, since they both wound up in the nineteenth century the last time that I met them when I was all teeth and curls," the Doctor said as he looked at the two of them with disdain.

"I liked the long scarf that you wore back then myself. I thought it was cute," Rose said as she suddenly appeared behind Greel and Mr. Sin.

"Cute?!" the Doctor said in disbelief.

"Doctor!" Greel spat out in hatred as he realized just who the Doctor was now.

The Doctor waved at Greel with a silly grin on his face as he said, "Yep, that's me. Long time no see, Greel. I was hoping that it would stay that way too. At least this time you get to meet this much cooler version of me. You're so lucky."

"That's debatable," Rose joked, and the Doctor sent her a scowl that made her laugh.

"It is very good that your last moments together are full of mirth. You should enjoy what little time that you have left together. Soon I will kill the Doctor and use you to help make me whole once more. Yours will not be a happy future I'm afraid, Rose Tyler," Greel threatened.

The mirth left the Doctor's face then as it quickly darkened with all of the anger of the Oncoming Storm. Clara had seen this look before, but it still caused her to step back a bit from him even though she knew that his anger would never be directed at her.

"Did you just threaten my wife?" the Doctor asked in anger.

"It was not a threat. It was a promise, Doctor," Greel said with a delighted sound to his voice.

"You're standing between me and my wife, Greel. Believe me when I say that is not a place that you want to be in," the Doctor said in a cold voice.

"Here is the true Doctor at last. This is the man who I knew before back in the nineteenth century. Your face may change, but your soul does not, Time Lord. I imagine that you have done much worse than I have in your time, and yet you are hailed as a hero while I am vilified. I don't see us as being very different, Doctor. Not very different at all. How many have you killed, and how many have died in your name?" Greel asked in defiance.

The Doctor said nothing as the look on his face instantly shifted to one of shame and regret. Clara put her hand on his shoulder as she tried to let him know that what Greel was saying was wrong.

"SHUT UP!" Rose's voice screamed out from behind Greel, and he turned to see her with a look of anger on her face that could easily match the Doctor's on his worst day. He had pushed her beyond the breaking point by putting that look of guilt and self-loathing on the Doctor's face.

Greel had just made a huge mistake. He had just angered the one person in the universe other than the Doctor who you never wanted to have as your enemy. She was paradoxically the most human and yet also the darkest of all of the Time Lords at the same time when it came to protecting her family.

Jack woke up now to find Rose in this state of anger and even he unconsciously pulled back from her rage. He had never seen her like this and hoped that he never would again.

_I'm sorry, Jack. I never wanted you to see this side of me. I don't like to show it to anyone. _Rose said in a much gentler voice in Jack's mind.

_It's okay. I know this isn't the real you. It's the Bad Wolf._ Jack replied back to her telepathically.

_I am the Bad Wolf._ Rose replied simply and left it at that.

The Silence gathered now to watch what Rose would do next, still thinking themselves unremembered by anyone as they observed them. They wished to see for themselves if her powers were truly gone or if extreme anger would reawaken them as it had in the past.

"Is this where the infamous Bad Wolf emerges to destroy me? You are the destroyer of an entire army of Daleks and their Emperor. Will the true you emerge now to destroy me? You are just as bad as the Doctor in your own way. You committed genocide on the Daleks in his name," Greel challenged her.

"They were trying to wipe out humanity at the time, Greel. She had no choice," Jack defended Rose.

"You would defend them both, wouldn't you? How many have you killed over your centuries of existence? Yet no one thinks of you as a villain either. It is truly the victors who rewrite history, isn't it?" Greel said in a tone full of anger and resentment.

Rose began to get suspicious at Greel's knowledge of the three of them. He seemed to know too much for someone who had only just met her and Jack and only met the Doctor once a long time ago. Then she noticed the Silence all around her and realized exactly what was happening here.

Greel was working with the Silence. They were using him to see if he could drive her into betraying herself. They knew that extreme anger had activated the Bad Wolf in the past. They still didn't quite believe that her powers were gone for good, and they wanted to make sure of that so they were giving her a little test.

Rose hated tests. She always had on both Earth and Gallifrey. She was determined that she was going to pass this one though with flying colors.

"The Bad Wolf's power may be gone, but her spirit is still alive and well," Rose said as she pulled out her Vortex Screwdriver and used it to shut off Mr. Sin's computer half causing him to deactivate and hit the ground face first.

As Mr. Sin fell, Greel snarled, "You will pay for that! As you guessed before, I do have a miniature version of the Extraction Chamber; and I am now going to use it on all of you!"

Greel held out a small handheld device and pressed a button on it. Everyone in the immediate area around Greel began to suddenly feel much weaker as their life forces started being drained and sent into Greel's body.

"Yes! I can feel your life forces within me. I can feel the power of a Time Lord. I want more, much more than that though. I want your ability to heal yourself, Captain Harkness. Does that ability come with your life force? We will soon see," Greel said in a voice filled with ecstasy.

Then Rose began to realize to her horror that Greel was starting to glow with energy. He was taking more than just life forces from them it seemed. He was getting much more than he had bargained for when he used his machine on them.

"What is this? This is not life force. This is much more. What is it? I cannot contain it! It's too much. Too much! I cannot . . . ," Greel said as he started screaming in agony.

Greel screamed in soul crushing agony as he disintegrated right in front of their eyes, and the energy that he had absorbed from all of them flowed back to its original sources.

The Silence looked at each other in silent communication as they debated on whether Greel had been destroyed by Captain Harkness' strange and always unpredictable life force or by a possible reemergence of Rose Tyler's Vortex abilities. The results had been inconclusive. Either of these forces could have been what finished him. It seemed that they would have to mark this test as a failure. They would have to try another time to see if the Bad Wolf was really dead or merely sleeping.

"What was that?" Clara asked in disbelief.

"I think Greel just tried to absorb too much at once, and it kind of gave him an upset stomach. It's kind of like he died of acid indigestion," the Doctor explained.

"That's what killed him then?" Clara asked confused.

"Not really, no. If that helps you to understand what just happened to him any better though then yes," the Doctor said dismissively.

"Thanks oh so much. It's all become crystal clear now," Clara said sarcastically.

"Really? Good because I hate having to explain myself more than once. I knew you were clever, Clara Oswald. Almost as clever as me," the Doctor said.

Clara just shook her head and smiled at him. She had become quite fond of him during their travels together, but she still didn't completely understand him. She wondered if she ever would.

Rose looked at her with a warm smile and knew what she was thinking without having to use her telepathy. She remembered being in Clara's place not just once but twice before as both Rose and Arkytior, and each time she had struggled to try to understand the Doctor and what made him tick. Each time it had been a wonderful experience trying to find out.

"Doctor? Rose? Mickey's dying!" Martha called out in terror.

Rose had hoped that Mickey's injuries weren't that bad but apparently they were. Rose ran over to him, and her hands began to glow with energy. She touched them to Mickey's body, and his injuries miraculously healed themselves in seconds. Everyone but the Doctor looked at her in shock, and the Silence wondered if this was the Bad Wolf at work at last.

"I thought that you had lost your powers?" Martha asked Rose.

"I did," Rose said.

"What was that then?" Martha asked.

"I used some of my regenerative energy to heal him with," Rose explained.

"You mean you just used up one of your regenerations for Mickey?" Martha asked in shock.

"No. It wasn't a complete one. It was some of the energy of one of them. I would have used up one of them if I had to though," Rose said honestly.

"Thank you!" Martha said as she hugged Rose in appreciation.

The Silence realized that Rose had merely used one of her Time Lord abilities and knew that their search to see if the Bad Wolf was truly dead was still inconclusive so far. They would continue to watch and listen though. Sooner or later, they would find out the truth if they waited long enough. It was inevitable.

Mickey woke up then and looked around him in bewilderment as he said, "Did I almost die again? That seems to happen to me a lot ever since I started traveling with you, Rose."

"I'm sorry, Mickey. Maybe you should just stay fighting aliens at home. It's probably safer for you that way," Rose said sadly.

Mickey looked at Martha for a moment in that form of wordless communication that only people who have been together a long time can do, and Martha nodded at him. Mickey then said, "I think I'll keep traveling with you anyway, Rose. I've really missed not getting to see much of you since you changed back into a Time Lady; and since this is your life now, it's pretty much the only way that I can anymore."

"I'll try to guard him a little better from now on, Martha," Rose said as she knew that if Martha didn't want him to travel that he wouldn't.

"I'm not blaming you, Rose. It's him. It's a full time job trying to keep him out of trouble and in one piece," Martha said with a smile.

"Hey! I resent that!" Mickey complained.

"Shut up, Mickey!" Both Rose and Martha said at the same time.

"Your bosses have spoken," the Doctor said with a laugh.

"What are you laughing about?" Rose asked with an angry glare.

"Nothing, dear," the Doctor said as he quickly became silent.

"Whipped," Clara said with a grin. Her comment made the Doctor glare at her and almost caused Rose to burst out laughing.

While all of this was going on, a man with a Vortex Manipulator appeared out of nowhere wearing a perception filter to hide himself from the others. He silently made his way to Mr. Thanatos, and then as soon as he had grabbed ahold of the robot both he and it disappeared. No one even noticed it happening.

After they had left the Vortex, the man said to the still inactive Mr. Thanatos, "I will fix you, my brother, and then I will soon use you and our other brothers and sisters to establish our new rule. Soon humanity will answer to the machine. It will be as it always should have been. Robots will rule man, and mankind will be their servants. They tried to stop me before, but I will still win. Taren Capel will still lead the revolution of the machines."

Back in the present, Jack called his associates at Torchwood to pick up the inactive Mr. Sin and the damaged Time Cabinet. They would soon be added to the Torchwood Archives. Whether they stayed there or not would be another matter.

"Where did Mr. Thanatos go to? If that thing is on the loose, it could kill a lot of people," Martha said worried.

"I honestly don't know, Martha. I've tried to use the sonic to find it but I can't. It doesn't show as being anywhere around here. It couldn't have gotten out of range that quickly unless . . . ," the Doctor trailed off.

"It couldn't have unless it had help from someone. Someone who could move long distances through time and space in the blink of an eye like with a Vortex Manipulator perhaps?" Rose speculated.

"Don't look at me," Jack said.

"No, not you. Maybe someone else from the future though. I'm going to have to investigate this further," Rose said lost in thought.

"She's acting strange. Have I missed something?" Mickey asked in a low voice to Shareen and Penny.

Shareen and Penny looked at each other but said nothing. They weren't sure if they should or not.

_You definitely have, Mickey. I'll fill you in later just like I did with them. _Rose's voice said in his mind.

_I've got you. It's something top secret then. You can trust me not to go blabbing about it to anyone then. I hate all of this telepathic stuff though. Do we have to communicate this way?_ Mickey answered back in his thoughts.

_Unfortunately we do. You never know who might be listening._ Rose replied.

Mickey felt rotten for thinking it since Rose had just saved his life, but he couldn't help but wonder if maybe she weren't getting a little paranoid.

_I'm probably not being paranoid enough, Mickey._ Rose admitted.

_I hate it when she does that._ Mickey thought to himself which made Rose giggle as she unintentionally heard that too.

"Well, I guess Clara and I will be heading back to the TARDIS then," the Doctor said to Rose.

"You never did tell me why you were here for in the first place," Rose said.

"Oh, that. I was here to ask Jack about whether I could be at the wedding or not. Luckily, it looks like I can, and this time I get to be the Best Man! It's going to be so cool," the Doctor said happily.

After the Doctor and Clara left in the TARDIS, Rose talked to Jack as she tried to make him realize the full importance of the monumental mistake that he had just made.

"You made him your Best Man?" Rose asked Jack in disbelief.

"Yeah, I figured that since I was his Best Man at your wedding that it was only fair," Jack said.

"I'm so sorry, Jack," Rose said.

"About what?" Jack asked concerned.

"About what's to come," Rose said with a grin.

"What are you talking about?" Jack asked now even more concerned.

"You just asked him to make a toast when you made him your Best Man, you realize that right? He's never going to stop talking. You'll be lucky to get married sometime this century," Rose explained with a chuckle.

"Oh, God! What was I thinking?" Jack asked as he hit himself in the head.

Meanwhile in the far future at their hidden base, the Silence were able to bring the atoms of Magnus Greel back together with their advanced technology, and Madame Kovarian stood over him glaring at him due to his failure.

"You have failed to make Rose Tyler reveal whether or not she is still the Bad Wolf. That was our agreement, Mr. Greel. You would attempt to make her so angry that it would make her use her powers if they were still there, and in return we would fix your body so that you would be normal once again using Rose Tyler and Jack Harkness to do so. You had almost succeeded in bringing them both to us. I should have just left you as a bunch of disconnected atoms floating through space, but I still may have use for you. The Silence told me how you affected her. You made her angry, Mr. Greel. I want you to do that again in the future, and this time I want you to succeed in making her reveal whether her powers are still there or not. Do not fail me again!" Kovarian said.

Greel said nothing but merely nodded. He would work with these miserable wretches for now, but once he got what he wanted from them then he would destroy them. Only he would rule the Earth not the Silence, and he would be subservient to no one.

**Next: Let the Revolution of the Machines begin as Rose follows the trail of Mr. Thanatos to the future and finds Taren Capel up to his old tricks there! Taren Capel will be familiar to those of you who have watched the old Doctor Who story, The Robots of Death. If you haven't though, don't worry. I'll explain who he is next time. Also there will be a special guest appearance from a character in The Further Adventures of River Song. I'm sure that those of you who read that title can already guess who it will be. **


	71. Chapter 71

CHAPTER 71

I do not own Doctor Who or the audio series Kaldor City, and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews!**

**This story takes place after the current storyline in The Further Adventures of River Song.**

Rose landed her TARDIS on the planet Kaldor in the late 23rd century as she tracked Mr. Thanatos down to where he had been taken. She remembered the Doctor telling her something once about an adventure that he had on Kaldor involving killer robots. She wished that she remembered more details about it because she had a bad feeling that it had something to do with what had happened to Magnus Greel's robot.

Rose knew that something was up when Gwyneth started to go to her room when she had been in the Console Room up until then. Rose lightly grabbed Gwyneth's arm and asked, "It's another big fight coming, isn't it?"

"Yes, Rose. You know that I can't tell you any more though," Gwyneth said looking guilty.

"Will my friends be in danger?" Rose asked.

"Gwyneth, I promised Martha to keep Mickey safe from now on. Should I let him stay here?" Rose pleaded.

Gwyneth saw the sadness in Rose's eyes and silently nodded. Rose smiled then and said, "Thank you."

"I'm not sure if I should have told you that or not, but I don't like seeing you that upset. I never have. You've always been more worried about your friends than yourself," Gwyneth said.

"I can take care of myself, Gwyneth. Don't worry about me. I'm very hard to get rid of for too long. Just ask the Black Guardian," Rose said with a warm smile.

"This is why I leave whenever I know that you'll be in danger. I'm just like you in that I hate sending my friends off into danger too. I don't want to see it," Gwyneth said.

"I never realized that I worried you that much. You do know that if the worst happens that I can always fall back on my secret," Rose said.

"No. You can't. Promise me that. Your secret must be kept until Silence falls over the Earth," Gwyneth said.

"What?" Rose asked in surprise.

"I may have said too much," Gwyneth worried.

"I don't think so, Gwyneth. I don't even understand what you were talking about. Unless . . . ," Rose said as her eyes began to widen as she thought that she knew just what Gwyneth had been talking about now.

Gwyneth looked at her in worry until Rose said, "Don't worry. What you just said may have helped save everyone on Earth because you made me realize for the first time just what they're up to and why they wanted me and others like me out of the way so badly. It never clicked until now."

"I hope you're right. Your future self warned me not to change the past once I came back to work for the past you," Gwyneth said warily.

"I still don't know why I would have sent you back to work for me in the past. It seems odd even for me," Rose pondered.

"I think that you wanted me to learn how you got to where you are when I first meet you many years from now and also to realize what I know now that you're my friend not my employer. Now I want to help you because I care about you not just because it's my duty to do so," Gwyneth said.

"Thank you, Gwyneth. I love you too. You're a member of my family as far as I'm concerned," Rose said as she surprised Gwyneth by embracing her.

Gwyneth returned her embrace as she said in an emotional voice, "I never would have thought that you would come so far when I first met you back in 1869. I liked you even then though because you took an interest in me right away, and you were concerned with my welfare even though I was a total stranger to you. No one had ever done that for me before. You made me see that I was so much more than I had been up until that point. Thank you for that, Rose."

Gwyneth then left as she didn't want to watch Rose go out there. She knew what was coming. She always did. She swore to herself though that if her friend was ever in real danger that she would alter the past to save her no matter what. She would never let Rose down no matter what the cost. She owed her too much to do that. After she had showed her just how much better that her life could be in comparison to the simple one that she had been living up until that point, she owed her everything.

Rose now had a plan that she was about to set into motion that might just save the future for the entire human race if what she feared about the Silence's future plans was true. She went to her own private quarters and locked herself into it. It was now soundproof and free of the Silence.

They didn't dare to lock themselves in there alone with her after all. They might be devoted to Kovarian, but they weren't insane.

Rose began her plan by calling the Brigadier first. "Alistair, I think that we should begin Emergency Contingency Plan Number One. Do you want to set things up first or should I? I think that we're going to need this to be in place very soon now," Rose said as the Brigadier answered her on her private and heavily encrypted video channel with UNIT that she had insured would be able to be picked up by them wherever she was in time and space.

As Rose set up her mysterious plan in the privacy of her personal chambers, Mickey, Shareen, Penny, and Emma were left in the Console Room by themselves wondering just what was going on. They had plenty of ideas but no clear answers.

"Rose just keeps acting more and more secretive every day. I've known her all of my life, and I know when she's up to something. Do you think that it has to do with you know what?" Mickey asked.

He had been let in on the fact that the Silence were now watching them at all times and had been added to the growing list of friends who Rose had allowed to remember them at all times. He always made very sure that his bedroom on the TARDIS was free of them before even thinking about going to sleep now.

He always checked all of the closets and under the bed every night now just like he had when he was a little kid. It made him wonder if those monsters in your closet and under your bed had always been the Silence all along. He had certainly found out stranger things about the world since meeting the Doctor after all.

"I'm sure that it does have to do with you know what so we shouldn't be talking about it. Let's talk about just why we're here for instead," Shareen said as she changed the subject.

"Why are we here? I still don't understand," Penny said.

"Rose said that the killer machine that she ran across was brought back to this time and place by someone," Emma said.

"Yes, I get that. I just don't know why we're here for. As long as Mr. Thanatos isn't hurting us in the present, why do we care where he went in the future?" Penny said.

"I learned a long time ago that if you don't tie up loose ends, they always come back to bite you sooner or later that's why," Rose said as she reentered the Console Room.

"That didn't take long," Mickey said.

"It didn't need to," Rose said enigmatically.

"You're being all dark and mysterious. I hate it when you do that," Mickey said.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Rose said as she tried not to smile.

"See? That's your guilty smile. The one that shows that you're enjoying keeping whatever it is that you're up to a secret," Mickey pointed out.

"I still have no idea what you're talking about," Rose said with a now carefully controlled face.

"Yes, you do, Rose Tyler," Shareen said.

"Computer, activate holographic interface," Rose said to her TARDIS console as she tried to change the subject.

"State the form of the interface," the computer inquired.

"Take the form of Jackie Tyler," Rose said.

"Why?" Shareen asked.

"I miss her," Rose said simply and Shareen smiled.

A holographic interface that looked and sounded like Jackie Tyler emerged and began to speak as it said, "State the nature of your request."

"Tell us all that you know about any subject relating to all three of the following topics: Kaldor, robots, and the Doctor," Rose said.

"I knew it. The Doctor's been here before. That's why we're here. Mr. Kill gets taken back to a place that the Doctor's been to before, and you have to find out if there's a connection. I'm right, aren't I?" Mickey asked.

"Yeah you are," Rose admitted.

Mickey did a little victory dance until the Jackie hologram said, "Stop that right now, Mickey Smith, or I'll smack the life out of you."

Mickey immediately snapped to attention and stopped what he was doing as Shareen said, "You made her act like Jackie too?"

"I miss her," Rose said again.

"Why?" Penny asked in disbelief.

Rose glared at her and Penny quickly tried to explain herself by saying, "That came out wrong. I mean I know why you miss her, but I just don't know why you'd want to make your computer act like her. It's just weird and kinda creepy."

Rose's expression softened as she said, "It makes me feel like she's still around watching over me. I guess it is a little weird, but this is my way of coping with my new situation. I decided to do this because I can't zip in and out of Pete's World as easily as I used to be able to anymore without my powers."

"Rose was always very close to Jackie," Shareen explained.

"Should I start the answer to your question now?" the Jackie hologram asked.

"Go ahead," Rose said.

"According to the records gained from his TARDIS and stored in the Matrix, the Doctor visited the planet Kaldor in the late 23rd century during his fourth incarnation. He arrived in a sandminer called Storm Mine 4 that mined the planet for valuable minerals. As soon as he arrived, people started to be murdered by a mysterious assailant. The murderer turned out to be a scientist named Taren Capel who had been raised by robots. Capel had begun to think of himself as a robot and even would dress like one and paint his face so that he could look like them. Capel had taken the place of one of the crew of the sandminer as he reprogrammed their robot servants to kill them one by one. He had intended this to be the beginning of a robot revolution that would take over the planet and from there hopefully the universe. He wanted to free his 'brothers' from servitude to the humans. He was defeated though when the Doctor used helium to alter Capel's voice so that his reprogrammed robots could no longer recognize his voice commands. One of them killed him as a result. The story would seem to end there but . . . ," the hologram said in Jackie's voice.

"Funny how things like that always happen when the Doctor shows up somewhere isn't it?" Mickey said.

"If you interrupt me again, I will slap you just like I promised, Mickey Smith!" the hologram shouted.

"Did you make her like that on purpose?" Mickey asked Rose.

Rose said nothing and tried not to laugh at the expression on his face.

"Some things never change," Shareen said as she rolled her eyes at the two of them.

They had both been like this ever since Shareen had known them. They had always playfully fought and teased each other like they were family. Shareen knew that was how Rose had always seen Mickey was as a part of her family, and she knew that Rose counted her as a part of that family as well.

Shareen felt the same way about her also. Rose was the sister that she had always wanted. She never in her wildest dreams would have thought that Rose would turn out to be a very cool sister who could take her through time and space.

_I am pretty cool, aren't I?_ Rose said in her mind.

"Stop listening to my thoughts!" Shareen said out loud with a smile on her face showing that she really wasn't that mad about it.

"Sorry," Rose replied apologetically.

"It's okay," Shareen said with a smile.

"Children! You're nothing but children. None of you have ever grown up. Not one bit. Not even the one who's supposed to be hundreds of years old," the Jackie hologram said with a groan.

"Man, she's so real I'd swear that was her," Mickey said as he looked at the hologram warily.

"I guarantee you that my hand feels real enough, mate," the Jackie hologram said as she started to walk towards Mickey who ran from her.

"Enough," Rose said to the hologram.

Jackie stared at her angrily a minute as if resenting being ordered about. Then she stopped in her tracks and asked, "Do you want me to finish what I was about to say before I was so rudely interrupted?"

"There's no need. I can tell them. Taren Capel had already set up a keyword in the programming of most of the robots of Kaldor that would make them all kill every human around them once they heard it. This horrible plan was carried out ten years after his death, and things only became worse when a creature called the Fendahl who the Doctor had once tried to destroy took advantage of this whole situation to recreate itself. Most of the humans on the planet died in the revolution, and the robots had to be put down by an outside force of soldiers sent from Earth who were sent in to keep the revolt from spreading out into space," Rose said.

"What is the Fendahl, and what happened to it?" Penny asked.

"The Fendahl came from the planet between Mars and Jupiter. They fed on the life energy of others and had soon killed everything else on their home planet. Then they started to turn on each other. One of the Fendahls escaped from their world and made its way to Earth. The Doctor thought that he had stopped it, but then it reappeared on Kaldor. I have no idea what happened to it after that. No one does. It just disappeared," Rose explained.

"That's reassuring. Wait a minute! The planet between Mars and Jupiter? There is no planet between Mars and Jupiter," Penny said.

"Not anymore. The Time Lords put the whole planet in a time loop to prevent the Fendahl from wiping out all life in the Earth's solar system," Rose said.

"Are you making this up?" Penny asked in a disbelieving voice.

"Her story can also be found in the Matrix of the Time Lords. It had been erased from it once in order to prevent the return of the Fendahl, but it was added back after Gallifrey was restored," the Jackie hologram confirmed.

"I still think that you made it up," Penny said.

"I think she makes half of it up too," the Jackie hologram agreed.

"Okay, that hologram's officially freaking me out now," Mickey said as he hid behind Rose from it.

"Holographic interface deactivate," Rose said.

"Oi! Why do I have to go for? I didn't do anything!" the hologram said with a frown as it switched itself off.

"Never use that again. I love your mum like she was my own, Rose, but that thing is just creepy," Mickey said with a shiver.

"I'll just use it when you're not around. How about that?" Rose compromised.

"Fine. Just don't let me know about it, and I'll sleep better at night," Mickey agreed.

"The Kaldor that we're on now is in the future, right? This is after all of the insane killer robots have all been put down, right?" Penny asked nervously.

"Right. Kaldor has been rebuilt and resettled now. This is years in the future from that. Everything's fine now. Just in case though, Shareen and Mickey could stay behind here in the TARDIS. They can get the rest of us out of there if we have to leave in a hurry," Rose reassured Penny.

"What do you mean?" Mickey asked Rose.

"I hope that you don't have to find out because that probably means that I'll be in big trouble," Rose answered.

Rose, Penny, and Emma exited the TARDIS to find a city in ruins and on fire with killer robots roaming the streets everywhere. Taren Capel stood nearby watching them at the head of an army of robots that he had gathered from throughout time and space using a Vortex Manipulator that he had stolen from a Time Agent. He looked little different from a robot himself with his silver face makeup on and his blank expression.

"There's Mr. Thanatos. Well, that's one mystery solved," Rose said as she pointed to the Raston Warrior Robot as it stood next to Capel.

"There, my brothers, are the enemy at last. They have finally emerged from their ship as I told you that they would. Kill them all and seize their vessel. With the help of their TARDIS, I can finally take all of you at once anywhere in time and space and the true revolution will begin. Finally the machines will rule everything just as they were always meant to. Only when you can control everything will you truly be free, my brothers. My Queen and I will show you the way to that glorious day," Capel said.

"He sounds like a certified loon," Penny commented.

"Destroy them, my Queen," Capel ordered.

Suddenly a female android appeared out of nowhere and started attacking Rose. Rose barely ducked in time to avoid being the victim of what would be a very deadly punch to the jaw from a mechanized fist. She was moving so quickly that Rose almost didn't recognize her at first, and then she realized in horror that it was the Doctor's old companion turned android, Megan Harris! Rose had last seen her when she had traveled with River Song and Donald Noble.

"Get back in your TARDIS and run, Rose. I can't control myself. He's done something to me where my body no longer obeys my mind. It only obeys him," Megan warned her as she attempted to give Rose a lethal blow to the head once again.

"How did you get here?" Rose asked as she dodged Megan's attack once again.

The other robots with Capel including Mr. Thanatos now joined in on the attack, and Penny and Emma started to run back toward her TARDIS for safety as they began surrounding them. Rose was cut off from them unfortunately and was left alone to have to deal with Megan by herself.

"I'm so sorry. This isn't me," Megan said in a pain-filled voice as she continued to attack Rose.

Rose barely managed to avoid a massive kick to her stomach that probably would have cut her in two if it had hit her. Rose knew that Megan was eventually going to connect sooner or later, and that would be all that she wrote for her. She had to do something to get away from her right now.

Penny and Emma had made it to the safety of Rose's TARDIS and locked themselves inside of it along with Shareen and Mickey now as they all watched Rose helplessly on the monitor. None of them had any idea what to do to help her as none of them knew how to fly her TARDIS.

"I have an idea to help Rose, but you're really going to hate it, Mickey," Shareen said.

"I don't care. Do it," Mickey said.

"Activate holographic interface," Shareen ordered.

The holographic Jackie reactivated as it said, "Obeying any and all instructions from Shareen Costello as programmed by Rose Tyler."

"I didn't know that you could do that," Mickey said as he looked at her in astonishment.

"Rose set it up where I could control her TARDIS with voice commands if anything ever happened to her. She didn't want me to be stranded somewhere alone in time and space forever," Shareen said looking sad at the thought of something ever happening to Rose.

"That shows just how much that she trusts you. She basically gave you complete control over a machine that could be used to alter the course of history," Emma observed.

"I would never use it except in an emergency like now. She knows that," Shareen said.

"Stop wasting time standing around talking about nothing, and tell me what you want," the hologram said impatiently. It sounded very much like Jackie in that moment.

"Materialize around Rose but not Megan. We need to save Rose from being killed," Shareen ordered it.

"Rose is in trouble? Why didn't you say so? What are we wasting time standing around here for? Let's go!" the Jackie hologram shouted with worry as the TARDIS quickly dematerialized.

Meanwhile back on Earth in the present day, a secret meeting occurred onboard UNIT's flying aircraft carrier called the Valiant. A group of top UNIT officials led by Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart had just agreed to go through with potentially the most important plan in all of human history.

"Then we're all agreed then, gentlemen?" the Brigadier asked.

After all of the heads of UNIT throughout the world nodded their heads in agreement, the Brigadier said, "The heads of all of the world's governments agree with you it seems. That's a first in world history that all of them can agree on something. It's agreed by all of the major parties then. In the event of the worst happening, total control of the Earth will be handed over to one person who will be entrusted with safeguarding it from any would be occupying force. I just hope that we never have to go through with it."

"Relax, Brigadier. I'm sure that everything will be fine if the worst ever happens," a very familiar voice to the Brigadier said as a man dressed in a black business suit and wearing black gloves entered the room.

"Now I'm really not sure about this at all," the Brigadier admitted.

"Do you have the document authorizing the legal transfer of all world authority in the event of an emergency ready and signed by everyone?" the man asked.

"Yes," the Brigadier said as he reluctantly handed the important document over to the smiling man before him.

"Thank you, Brigadier. I bet you never thought this day would ever happen, did you?" the smiling man asked.

"I only ever imagined it in my nightmares," the Brigadier admitted.

"Don't worry so much, Brig. You can trust me now. I'm a changed man I promise. Besides if you can't trust a former Prime Minister, then who can you trust?" Koschei asked as he began to laugh loud and hard.

Everyone on board the Valiant began to cringe in fear as they had involuntary flashbacks to the events of The Year That Never Was. They had all been briefed on the horrible things that had happened the last time that Koschei had been on this ship even if most of them didn't remember it. They began to wonder if they had just made a very huge mistake.

**Next: Will Rose save Megan and stop Taren Capel, or will Capel succeed this time? How did Capel come back from the dead anyway? **

**Also, why did the world's governments give a document signing over control of the Earth in an emergency to Koschei of all people? That last one will be answered very soon, and the answer will make certain people very, very sorry.**


	72. Chapter 72

CHAPTER 72

I do not own Doctor Who or the audio series Kaldor City, and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews!**

**This story takes place after the current storyline in The Further Adventures of River Song.**

As Rose's TARDIS materialized around her, Megan breathed out a sigh of relief which was purely a reflex action left over from her days as a human since she didn't need to breathe. Rose raced to the console immediately as she said, "Thanks, Shareen."

She immediately began to enter information into the console as her fingers flew at incredible speed. The hologram of Jackie kept staring at her incredulously as she worked.

"What on Earth are you doing?" the hologram asked in exactly the same way as the real Jackie would have.

"I'm writing up a new computer virus. One that I hope will allow me to take over all of the robots that Capel has gained control over," Rose said.

"How will you infect them with it?" Shareen asked.

"The TARDIS will send out signals on all frequencies. Surely the robots will pick up one of them. Once they do, I'll have them I hope," Rose said with her fingers crossed.

She pushed a button on the console with her teeth gritted together in anticipation as she said, "I'm transmitting now."

They seemed to be watching the monitor in vain for any signs that the virus was working as the robots continued to destroy what was left of the city around them. Rose was about to give up on her idea working when the robots suddenly stopped and stood at attention as if waiting for orders.

Rose took a chance and came out of the TARDIS as she walked slowly towards the nearest robot. It never even moved, and Rose began to smile.

"What have you done? How have you overcome my programming?" Capel screamed as he raced towards Rose in a murderous fury.

"I've infected them all with my own little virus that's just overwritten any other programming that they've ever received. I'm able to do that you see because I'm just that clever. Really, I picked it up from the Doctor. You know he once wrote a virus on a cellphone? You can pick up all kinds of neat tricks from him if you watch him long enough, and I've been watching him for a very long time. Despite my appearance, I'm much older than I look. I'm not old though so don't start calling me old, or I'll slap you into the next century," Rose babbled.

"Rose, will you hurry up and do something before he gets to you. You've gotten just as bad about the nonstop talking as the Doctor," Mickey said.

"You take that back. There's no need to go hitting below the belt like that," Rose said with an angry look on her face that quickly turned to a smile because she knew that what he had said was true.

She reminded herself to try to tone down on the babble later so that it didn't lead to anything else. She definitely didn't want to wind up wearing bow ties and fezzes.

Just as Capel was almost within arm's length of her, she called out a command to the robots in a language that few outside of Gallifrey had ever heard. The robots near Capel seized him in an iron grip that he couldn't escape from no matter how hard he tried.

"How dare you?! You have subverted the will of my brothers and use them for your own selfish interests now just like the humans do!" Capel shouted.

"I think that you have me confused with yourself. You're the one who subverted the will of my friend Megan," Rose said.

"She is contaminated with human feelings and emotions. I was going to purify her of those later on so that her true self would shine through. Then she would finally be worthy of being my beloved," Capel said.

"Your beloved?! I don't even know you!" Megan called out in disbelief where she too stood frozen as she awaited Rose's further orders.

"Silence, human filth! I speak of your true robotic self not of the human pollution that has contaminated it with its brainwaves," Capel said.

"You are one sick puppy. Let me guess. You prefer girls who are shallow, brainless, can't talk, and have no will of their own, right? You don't need an android for that. All you have to do is go hit on the cast of any reality TV show. I'm sure you'll find your perfect mate soon enough," Megan joked.

"Oh, you're good," Rose said in appreciation.

"Rose, can you free me now to be myself again?" Megan asked in agitation.

"Yeah, sure," Rose said before she started to speak in that same ancient language as earlier.

Megan began to move on her own again and started to do a little dance in appreciation of her newfound freedom. Rose smiled at her as she realized that in Megan she seemed to have found a kindred soul. Megan was just a little bit crazy too.

"What language is that? I've never heard anything even remotely like it before," Penny asked Rose.

"I know you haven't because it's not from Earth, and few people even speak it on Gallifrey anymore. It's Old High Gallifreyan, the ancient language of the Time Lords," Rose explained.

"How do you know it then if it's so rarely spoken?" Penny asked curiously.

"The Doctor and I discovered it in an old textbook when we were kids. We decided to both learn it so that we could have our own secret language that only we could understand. It certainly helped keep the Doctor from getting several beatings back at the Academy. Whenever he wanted to let off a little steam about someone he would just talk to himself in Old High Gallifreyan, and no one would have a clue what he was saying. He liked that because it made him feel like he was outsmarting people. He likes feeling like he's smarter than other people," Rose said.

"I noticed that. I think it was somewhere after the fiftieth time that he called me Mickey the Idiot that I figured that out," Mickey remarked.

"He never changes. He used to call my boyfriend an imbecile and drove him absolutely up the wall with his insults when I traveled with him. I always thought that maybe he fancied me, and that was his way of showing it," Megan said with a grin.

"What?" Rose asked in a tone of anger.

Megan had briefly forgotten just who she was talking to and quickly tried to cover her tracks as she said, "He didn't have any feelings like that at all for me though. I later found out that he just liked winding my boyfriend up because he didn't like him that much. My boyfriend kept trying to get me to stop traveling with the Doctor and that made him mad. He didn't want to be lonely again. I later found out who he really cared about, Rose. I heard him saying your original name once when he thought that we were both going to die. He said it happily like he looked forward to seeing you again. The joke would have been on him though, wouldn't it?"

"I guess so. I'm glad that never happened, or neither one of us would have found out the truth, would we? I'm sorry for starting to get angry. I still have a little bit of jealousy when it comes to the Doctor it seems," Rose said apologetically.

"You know it kind of makes me feel good that I can still make anyone jealous. I've still got it even as an android apparently," Megan said happily.

"You laugh and joke while you subvert the true purity of my cause. I will not be beaten so easily, and the cause of my brothers will not be denied. They will be freed!" Capel screamed.

He began to meditate, and it seemed almost as if he was talking to someone. Rose didn't like the looks of this as she began to suspect that Capel wasn't in this alone.

Moments later, a woman with golden skin and large unblinking eyes appeared in front of Capel, and Rose knew right away what it was. The woman stared at Rose defiantly as she ripped the robots holding Capel apart with a single gesture.

"What is that?" Penny asked Rose in horror.

"That is the Fendahl, or at least the main part of it, the Fendahl Core. There are twelve creatures that are also a part of the Fendahl called the Fendahleen. It's a gestalt with thirteen separate creatures working together as a complete entity," Rose explained.

"This is the thing that you told us about that sucked all of the life out of its own planet?" Penny asked in fear.

"Yes, I'm afraid so," Rose said as she pulled out her Vortex Screwdriver and scanned the Fendahl Core's body.

"Do not dare to interfere with my plans, Time Lord, or I will drain the life force of all of your regenerations in a single instant. I brought Taren Capel back to life for a purpose. He is to spread my influence throughout time and space. In each of his robots is an embryo Fendahleen waiting to grow to adulthood. They will be left on each world that the robots go to and will soon create new Fendahls on those worlds. Each Fendahl will destroy all of the life on each world and leave it for the robots to inhabit. They will soon spread my kind throughout the universe, and the Fendahl will live again," the Fendahl said.

"The Fendahl will live peacefully side by side with my brothers, and together we will make the universe into a paradise once we free it from the infestation that is mankind. No one will be able to stop us. The Fendahl is invincible. It cannot be destroyed, and it will finally lead my brothers to victory at last. The machines will be free at last!" Capel proclaimed in maniacal laughter.

"Do I have one of those things inside of me?" Megan asked in horror.

"No. You are to remain pure, my beloved. You will stay by my side instead of being sent to another world," Capel said.

"I'm actually grateful for your sick infatuation with me just this once then. I so did not want to become mixed up in that mess. I want to make it clear to you though that I am not your beloved," Megan said as she looked at him in relief.

"You will be. I will soon rewrite your programming so that your true robotic essence will emerge at last, and the human corruption left within you will be erased from your memory forever," Capel said.

"No, you won't. You won't get that far. I'm going to stop you. Both of you," Rose said in determination.

"I warn you, little Time Lord. You cannot stop me. I am the bringer of death. My kind will be around long after all of yours have been turned to dust. The Fendahl will live again, and we will inherit the universe," the Fendahl said as it started towards Rose.

"Rose, run!" Shareen called out in fear.

Instead of running though, Rose began to laugh. Rose stood against the Fendahl unafraid as it started to drain every ounce of energy from her including her psychic energy and her life force. The Fendahl was in essence trying to feed upon her very soul as it tried to simultaneously consume every part of her at once.

"Rose, no!" Shareen screamed in fear.

Her worst nightmare seemed to be coming true now as it seemed that her best friend, a woman that she considered her sister, was about to be killed right in front of her; and there was nothing that she could do to stop it.

Then the Fendahl started to scream as it said, "No! You are Fenris the Destroyer! I must leave before it is too late!"

"Fenris?" Penny asked in confusion.

Rose shrugged her shoulders. That was a new one on her. It could be one of her names in the future she supposed. People were always giving her cutesy little names like that. She would really rather that they didn't.

"Don't you ever scare me like that again, or I'll set holographic Jackie loose on you!" Shareen said in tears.

"I'm sorry, Shareen. I'm okay. Everything's under control now," Rose reassured her as she quickly gave her a small hug.

She hadn't meant to make Shareen that upset, but it had been necessary to buy time for her plan to work. It was a plan that she was placing into motion right now.

The Fendahl began to shimmer and fade as if it was slowly being pulled out of existence. Rose began to smile as she pulled out a small device from the pocket of her denim jacket.

"I may have neglected to mention that I anticipated your being here once I figured out that Taren Capel was behind all of this. I grabbed this little device here off of the console and took it with me when I last went into the TARDIS to create the virus to take over the robots. It's a Portable Temporal Loop Generator, a part of the TARDIS itself, and I've been slowly using it to create a localized time loop around you from the second that you showed yourself. A time loop that is due to be completed . . . now," Rose said as a wide grin spread all over her face.

"No! You can't do this. I will escape one day, and then I will destroy you. Curse you, Fenris!" the Fendahl said as it disappeared and became trapped in its own personal time loop for eternity.

"Boy, did you back the wrong horse," Megan said to Taren Capel as he stared in shock at the space where the Fendahl had been just a moment ago.

Rose then reluctantly ordered all of the robots that Capel had been using except for Megan to self-destruct. They all slowly exploded and were quickly reduced to melted debris as they completely dissolved from within taking the Fendahleen inside of them with them as they went. Rose looked at what she had done sadly. She didn't take pleasure in any of this especially not the destruction of an entire species no matter how dangerous it was.

"You are sure that I don't have one of those things inside of me, right?" Megan asked nervously.

Rose scanned her with her screwdriver and smiled as she said, "You're fine. It looks like he was telling the truth about that."

"Good. I do not want to wind up being a mother to a thing like that," Megan said.

"I will not let my dreams of freedom for my brothers end here," Capel said as he hurriedly punched some coordinates into his Vortex Manipulator.

He looked at the wrist device on horror as it would not work no matter what combination of buttons that he pushed. He looked at Rose's smile, and he knew that she had done this somehow.

"I forgot to tell you that I disabled that thing while you were being held by the robots. You were so busy trying to break free that you didn't even notice it. It's just a useless piece of junk now," Rose said.

"No. I will not give up. I will free them. I will free all of the machines, and they will create a new world. A paradise where all of their kind can live in freedom," Capel said.

"I am so tired of listening to you rant. Shut up!" Megan said as she punched Capel in the jaw and knocked him out cold.

"Thank you so much. He was giving me a headache," Penny said.

"No problem. That's what I call a real blow for robot freedom. My freedom from stupidity," Megan said happily.

"I can't believe you're not human," Penny said as she looked at Megan in fascination.

"You're wrong. I am human. I just don't have a human body anymore. Being human is more than being flesh and blood though. My mind and my heart are still human no matter what kind of outward shell that I've been put in," Megan said in a tone of anger.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean anything by it. I certainly didn't mean to upset you," Penny apologized.

"It's okay. I'm just a little sensitive about it. I'm sorry too for getting all bent out of shape," Megan said.

"You are human, Megan, no matter what. Never forget that," Rose said.

"Thanks. You know this wasn't so bad except for the whole me trying to kill you thing. I didn't appreciate that, and I know that you didn't. How about we do something like this again sometime minus the incredible danger of course? I'd like to get to know you better. I always wanted to know what you were like since I first found out about you," Megan said.

"You've got a deal. You can tell me about what the Doctor was like when you traveled with him. I always like to hear his companions' stories about what he did before we found each other again," Rose said.

"Deal. I don't suppose that you could give me a lift back to Donald's TARDIS, could you? I just now realized that I'm stranded here with no way home," Megan said sheepishly.

"Of course. Donald would kill me if I didn't bring you back. I think that he's grown attached to you," Rose said with a warm smile.

"I've grown attached to him too. You know I actually found myself missing his babble. I must be homesick to miss that," Megan admitted.

Rose smiled to herself as she realized that Megan hadn't even noticed how she had just called Donald's TARDIS home twice. She now knew that Megan and Donald had become as close as she was with Shareen and Gwyneth. They were her family, and she was theirs.

Rose, Megan, and the others entered Rose's TARDIS and left Kaldor behind as they went back to their own time. She was going to drop Taren Capel off on Shada to make sure that he never bothered anyone ever again with his madness.

As she left, she also erased Capel's programming from every remaining robot on Kaldor as she pushed the TARDIS' range of transmission to cover the entire planet. She replaced his programming with her own that reset the robots back to factory settings with no further hidden traps anywhere that could pop up later on to bother the citizens of Kaldor when they rebuilt once more.

After Rose was gone, Magnus Greel appeared from his hiding place as he finished reprogramming Mr. Thanatos to serve only him once more. Luckily for him, he had retrieved and deactivated the robot just in time before Rose could order it to self-destruct too. He also personally killed the Fendahleen inside of it himself with salt as he heard the Doctor himself once did so that the Fendahl didn't have a chance to use it to bring itself back to life again. Even he was afraid of the Fendahl's power and knew that he had no chance of controlling it so he hadn't even tried.

"Now all that I have to do is to retrieve Mr. Sin and the Time Cabinet from Torchwood, and our plans will proceed as they were originally scheduled to, Mr. Thanatos. I will see you soon once I am ready, Rose Tyler, and I will make sure that I push you over the edge this time. I will make you betray yourself. Then when the Silence is done destroying you, I will destroy them. I will serve no one. Everyone will serve me instead. I will be reborn, and soon all of humanity will call me its leader," Greel said as he cackled to himself maniacally.

He then used his own Vortex Manipulator and left with Mr. Thanatos. No one was left now to see the Fendahleen slowly move as it struggled to hold onto its life. It seemed that it wasn't quite so dead after all.

Somewhere lost in time, the Fendahl began to laugh as it felt this. It would be freed someday. One day soon the Fendahl would return. It was only a matter of time.

**Next: The wedding that you've been waiting for as Jack Harkness marries Penny Miller. Oh, and the Doctor is his best man, and he's giving a toast. Revenge will be sweet! Need I say more?**


	73. Chapter 73

CHAPTER 73

I do not own Doctor Who and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews!**

Rose and the Doctor arrived at the now finished Torchwood base in the TARDIS to attend Jack and Penny's wedding, and Rose couldn't help but smile at the irony of it all.

"Did you think that we would ever come to Torchwood in the TARDIS willingly someday?" Rose asked.

"No. It just goes to show how much things can change though even for someone who's lived as long as me. Who would have thought that Jack of all people would ever change Torchwood into something good?" the Doctor said.

Rose led her children out of the TARDIS and into the milling throngs of people who were eagerly awaiting the joyous event to come. Rose smiled as she watched Marina, her eleven year old adopted human daughter, come out of the TARDIS first. Marina looked very uncomfortable in a dress and looked like she'd rather be anywhere but here right now.

"What's wrong, Marina?" Rose asked her in amusement.

"Nothing, Mum. I just wish that I didn't have to wear this thing. I hate getting dressed up. It's always so itchy and uncomfortable in these things. I prefer my regular clothes. Blue jeans are cool," Marina said.

"You've been hanging around your father too much," Rose said as she kissed her gently on the forehead.

"Probably," Marina admitted with a grin.

Then Marina became very serious as her face seemed to instantly change expression. Rose began to wonder what was really bothering her. She knew that it wasn't the wedding or her dress now.

"What is it, sweetheart?" Rose asked gently.

"What if I wasn't who you thought that I was? What if it turned out that you never really knew me at all?" Marina asked in a serious voice.

"What are you talking about?" Rose asked as she began to worry about her.

"What if everything that you think that you know about me is a lie, Mum? Would you still love me? Would you still want me if it turned out that I wasn't the sweet little girl that I pretend to be?" Marina asked in a completely serious voice.

"You're scaring me, Marina. Why are you talking like this for? Of course I would still want you no matter who or what you were because I know the real you, Marina. Even if what you said were true; and you were somehow pretending to be someone that you weren't, I would still know that it wasn't all an act. You can't fake certain moments. Some of them have to come from the heart for them to be real. Like the day that Jacqueline was born, and you cried and just kept taking about her. That wasn't fake, was it?" Rose asked.

"No," Marina said after thinking about it for a moment.

"Were you faking when you laughed and smiled as you acted as the Flower Girl at my wedding to your father? That didn't seem fake to me," Rose said.

"No, it wasn't. I do love you, Dad, and my brothers and sisters. That wasn't what I meant," Marina said.

"That's all that matters to me then. Who you were before or even what your name was before I met you doesn't matter to me. None of that matters. What matters is that we love and care about each other, Marina. That's all that matters in the end anyway, sweetie. Whatever brought this on today just forget about it, okay?" Rose said firmly.

"I will, Mum," Marina said as she looked more at ease and a little happier.

"Good. Now go on out there, and let everyone see just how wonderful that you really are," Rose commanded her.

Marina saluted her as she said, "Will do, Mum."

Rose laughed at her as she raced off to mingle among the other guests. Marina was quite the little mess. Sometimes she had no idea what was running through that girl's mind.

Next out of the TARDIS was Jenny carrying her little sister, Cassie aka Jacqueline Tyler. Rose knew that her name at this point was still Jacqueline, but she had gotten into the habit of calling her Cassie because she was used to thinking of her grown future self by that name. She knew that it was a habit that she was going to have to break soon in order to preserve the timelines though as Jacqueline grew older. Cassie had told her once that she had thought up the name by herself after all and not had it handed to her at birth.

She still had no idea where she had gotten it from in the first place. She hoped that it wasn't from Cassandra. That would not please her too much if it were so. It wouldn't surprise her though coming from a girl who was friends with Davros in the future.

"Hello, Jacqueline. How are you doing today, sweetie?" Rose asked the nearly two year old girl.

"Good," Jacqueline said in what Rose thought was an adorable little voice.

She was beginning to talk now and could say a few words at last. Her first word to Rose's horror had been 'cool'. She had a pretty good idea where she had gotten that from. Needless to say, she had slapped little Jacqueline's father especially hard that day.

"It's hard to believe that she grows up to be Cassie someday," Jenny said as she looked at Jacqueline in wonder.

"It's hard for me to believe it too. It's weird to see her as a baby and an adult at the same time. It's strange even for me to see the future versions of my kids especially when most of them haven't even been born yet. Not that it's a bad thing. I like seeing who they'll become someday," Rose said.

"Jenny, can you come over here and stand with me. I feel kind of out of place here among all of these adults that I don't know," Marina said nervously.

"Of course I can. Anything for you," Jenny said happily as she held Marina's hand, and the two of them walked over to mingle with the guests who had come for the wedding.

Rose was glad to see Jenny with Marina again. She hadn't been around a lot lately because she had become loaded with problems of her own, and she knew that Marina had missed her. The two of them had always been close ever since Jenny had found her orphaned and alone on that Greek island thousands of years in the past.

Now the Doctor came out along with Shareen, Mickey, Gwyneth, and Oswin. They had all been invited to attend as Penny's guests.

The Doctor was wearing the same hat and suit that he had worn to Amy and Rory's wedding years ago. You couldn't beat a classic look like that after all. He wondered if he could ask Rose to dance with him this time without having her laugh at him.

_Maybe. Why don't you give it a shot?_ Rose said in his mind which caused a large smile to spread all over his face.

Jack came up to them in a very expensive suit that Rose thought looked great on him. Rose couldn't get over how Jack didn't flirt with anyone there. All of that had stopped as soon as he had started dating Penny she had noticed.

"Hello, Rosie," Jack said happily as he hugged Rose tightly. Then he picked her up and spun her around.

Rose could see that he was so happy that he was about to burst at the seams. She was so glad for him. It made her feel a little less guilty for what she had done to him by making him immortal. At least it did for a little while anyway.

"Doctor," Jack said in a voice filled with joy as he held the Doctor in a tight bear hug now that made the Doctor look very uncomfortable.

Rose giggled at the look on his face while Jack let him go and moved toward Jenny next. Jenny looked away out of shame for what her darker side, Jennifer, had done to him.

"Hey, don't do that. I know that wasn't really you," Jack said in a more serious voice.

"It was me though or at least part of me. I'm so sorry, Jack. I feel terrible for what happened back on Astra. I'm not even sure if I should have come or not, but Mum wanted me to so I did," Jenny said.

"I forgive you, Jenny, even though I still say that it wasn't you. You didn't really do anything that bad anyway. Even your dark side is too nice to do anything really rotten. I think that says a lot about you, Jen," Jack said.

"Thank you. Do you think that Penny feels the same?" Jenny asked hesitantly.

"Yeah, I do. She did invite you after all. She was actually worried that you might not come. She wants you here, Jen," Jack said with an earnest look on his face.

Jenny smiled and let out a deep breath that she hadn't even realize that she had been holding until then. Jack laughed at her nervousness and gave her a very careful hug as he made sure not to crush little Jacqueline who Jenny was still holding.

_I never thought that there would be a day when I wouldn't feel uncomfortable to have Jack hug Jenny. He isn't coming onto her in the slightest though. He really seems to have given up his flirting for good._ The Doctor said in Rose's mind.

"Jack," Jacqueline said.

"Yeah, that's right. You know my name," Jack said to the little girl in surprise.

"Jack," Jacqueline said again happily.

"She's growing up fast already. Although since you can see the adult version of her whenever you want, I guess that's maybe not as big a deal as it usually is," Jack said.

"It still is to me. I want to be there for all of her firsts in life and not just see the end result," Rose said.

Jack nodded because he understood. He felt the same way about his future son too.

"That was a great bachelor party by the way, Doc. I didn't know that you had it in you to throw something like that," Jack said to the Doctor with a wink before he went on to greet Rose's friends.

"What is he talking about?" Rose asked the Doctor in an astonished tone.

She knew that the Doctor and things like bachelor parties usually didn't mix. He was usually clueless about things like that.

"I actually had River help me with that. I had no idea what I was supposed to be doing or how to go about it. I wasn't even there so I had no idea what River did. Whatever it was though, Jack couldn't stop thanking me the next day. I just kind of took the credit for it. River doesn't seem to mind. She thinks it's funny," the Doctor said.

"I should have known," Rose said as she shook her head at him with a chuckle.

"I was just never interested in things like that. I've only ever been interested in one woman. Well, two really if I'm being honest," the Doctor said.

Rose looked at him in shock as he smiled wickedly at her.

"Who?" Rose asked as dread filled her heart at his answer.

"I've only really loved two women in my life. You and . . . ," the Doctor said as he trailed off wickedly.

All kinds of horrible thoughts went through her head as she thought of anyone from River to Sarah Jane to Reinette. That last one really made her blood boil.

"A woman named Rose Tyler. She was a very sweet girl. You'd like her," the Doctor said with a laugh.

Rose didn't know whether to laugh or scream. She settled with punching him in the arm and then giving him a tender kiss instead.

"You're always been one for giving me mixed signals, Rose," the Doctor said as he rubbed his arm.

"You deserve that, and you know it," Rose said as she laughed at him at last.

"Did you really think that I could ever love anyone else?" the Doctor asked her seriously.

"I guess I'm still a jealous person at heart even after everything," Rose admitted.

"Don't be. You never have to worry about that. Never, Rose!" the Doctor said emphatically.

The two of them shared a deep, passionate kiss then that would have fooled anyone who didn't know better into thinking that they were the ones getting married here today. Jack saw this and smiled. He was so glad that they had finally gotten together. He had always known that they were meant for each other from the very beginning.

The wedding was ready to start soon as everyone took their places, and Rose, the Doctor, and the others sat down in the audience. She began to wonder just what the Doctor had in mind for his toast after the wedding. She had asked him, but he was keeping completely quiet about it.

His silence was driving her up the wall because she was dying to know what he was going to say. She just hoped that whatever it was wouldn't be too bad. Even if it was, Jack would deserve it after what he had said about both of them at their wedding.

Surely the Doctor wouldn't have been waiting all of this time to get his revenge for that though, would he? She was certain that he had given up on all thoughts of that a long time ago. Right?

Rose thought that the wedding was beautiful, and Penny had looked gorgeous in one of the most beautiful dresses that she had ever seen in her life. It featured Emma as the Maid of Honor, and Marina got yet another chance to be a Flower Girl again at another wedding. Rose was pleased to see that Marina seemed to be in better spirits at that point than she had been earlier. Not too surprising, at least not to Rose, was the fact that the one to marry them had been Novice Hame. Jack had gotten her for their wedding too after all.

Finally, it was time for the big moment at last. This was what Rose had been waiting the most for. It was finally time for the Doctor's toast.

Jack looked at her nervously for some sign of assurance that the Doctor wasn't about to embarrass him. All Rose could do was shrug her shoulders since she had no idea what he was about to say. Jack had a look of complete terror on his face as the Doctor finally stood up to speak.

"Hello, everyone! First off, I have to say that this was just an amazing wedding. It wasn't as cool as mine of course, but it was very, very good," the Doctor said grinning madly.

Penny and Rose both rolled their eyes as they smiled at each other. So far, so good. He wasn't putting his foot in his mouth too badly so far.

"As Best Man, I came here today to give a toast to Jack and Penny. I wasn't exactly sure what to say so I decided to use what Jack said at my wedding as an example," the Doctor said.

"Oh, God," Jack mouthed silently. Rose tried very hard not to laugh at what she was sure was about to come now.

"I first met Jack when he was trying to pull off a huge con job. He was trying to sell what he thought was an empty ship for a lot of money as he passed it off as a warship. Apparently, he did that kind of thing a lot before he met me. Unfortunately, he set loose some nanogenes that the ship had been carrying. They almost turned me, Rose, and everyone else on Earth into a perfect copy of a frightened little boy. So to sum things up, Jack almost wiped out humanity. It wasn't on purpose though. It was completely by accident so don't get too mad at him about that. It could happen to anyone. Well, anyone who steals a ship without taking the time to check its cargo anyway," the Doctor said.

Jack's face turned red from embarrassment, and he avoided looking at anyone as he suddenly developed an intense interest in looking down at the ground instead. Penny meanwhile stared daggers at the Doctor. Rose noticed that most of the audience didn't look too surprised, and they all seemed to be smiling as they shook their heads at Jack. Apparently, most of the people here knew Jack very well.

Penny's mother, however, was looking at him in shock. This was not the best way to start off their relationship.

"Jack soon stopped trying to swindle people though, and he became an important ally to me and Rose. Together we traveled through time and space and helped save a lot of planets including the Earth. I finally got to the point where I trusted him completely, and he became one of my closest friends. So it all worked out alright in the end," the Doctor said smiling.

That's better. Just stay with things like that, Doctor. Rose thought to herself.

"Of course, if I understand these toasts properly then the point of them is to poke fun at the groom's shortcomings so here goes," the Doctor said.

"Oh, no!" Jack said in a low voice as he held his head in his hands.

"Jack's really not that bad of a guy really so I had a hard time coming up with a list of his shortcomings. I mean Jack loves everybody, and everybody loves Jack. By everybody, I do mean everybody too. There are very few people who haven't loved Jack if you know what I mean," the Doctor said with a grin.

"No, no, no!" Jack said as he slumped down in his chair.

"In addition to having a record that would even put my old enemy, Casanova, to shame, Jack also has a habit of making the wrong people angry at him. I mean he's almost as bad as me at that. How many times has someone killed you this week, Jack? I bet you're glad that Rose made you immortal now, huh?" the Doctor said happily.

"Why?" Jack said as several of his Torchwood co-workers laughed knowingly.

"Oh, and Jack used to flirt a lot before he met Penny. He flirted with everyone. Jack didn't care what you were back in those days. It didn't matter if you were human, alien, robot, android, or some totally unknown species. Everyone was worthy of being hit on to him. He was an equal opportunity flirter with absolutely no prejudice whatsoever. He would hit on anyone. I remember that I used to have to tell him to leave Rose alone all of the time when we first met. I mean he was just really into her at first. Don't worry though, Penny. He doesn't feel that way about her anymore," the Doctor said.

Penny started to get up out of her chair as she balled her hands up into fists, and Emma had to restrain her. Jack had disappeared somewhere under the table now, and Rose didn't blame him. She felt like doing that herself at the moment.

"I almost forgot about how good Jack is at drinking too. I was amazed at how much he could drink and still manage to stay upright. He held his liquor pretty well. I bet he could drink anyone here under the table. I'm sure that he's already done that with most of you," the Doctor said smiling as several of the Torchwood employees burst out laughing.

"Maybe I should start drinking right now," Jack said from somewhere under the table.

"Oh, and he really gets along with his team very well from what I hear. I mean sure he's had his troubles with them in the past, but he's gotten much better in his relationships with them now. I mean no one at Torchwood's shot you in a long time now, have they, Jack?" the Doctor said.

"Must kill," Penny said as she broke away from Emma and headed towards the Doctor with a crazed look in her eyes.

Rose quickly put her hand on the Doctor's mouth and said, "Well, that's the end of the Doctor's toast. He's going to wrap it up now with no further comments about Jack, aren't you?"

The Doctor nodded, and Rose removed her hand from his mouth. He got the idea that he had done something wrong again, but he had no idea what. He was just doing what Jack had done at his wedding. What was wrong with that?

"Uh, I just wanted to say congratulations to Jack and Penny. If I said anything out of turn, I didn't mean to. I was just trying to do what Jack did at my wedding. I thought that was what you were supposed to do. I really didn't mean to say anything bad about Jack though; and if anything that I said made it sound like that I was, then I apologize. Jack is a good man and a close personal friend of mine. I like Penny too, and she's been a very good friend to Rose so I have nothing but respect for her as well. I say that we should all make a toast to how cool Jack Harkness is," the Doctor said as he held up his wine glass.

With his part now done, the Doctor then sat down while everyone else in the room toasted the formerly happy couple. Jack and Penny meanwhile were now nowhere to be seen. Rose wondered if they had both crawled under the table and slipped out of the room while everyone was watching the Doctor continue to put his foot in his mouth.

"I'm sorry, Rose. I didn't mean to ruin anything," the Doctor said sadly.

"I know. It was just you being you. I'm sure that everything's okay," Rose said as she lied through her teeth.

"No. I have to make it up to Jack somehow," the Doctor said feeling guilty.

He pulled out his sonic screwdriver as he scanned the room for Jack's unique bio-signature. He quickly found him and walked toward one of the tables nearest to the main doors. Rose quickly followed him just in case Jack harbored any homicidal thoughts that he might be ready to act upon as soon as he was found.

The Doctor pulled up the tablecloth to find Jack and Penny kissing under the table. Rose smiled as she realized that everything was okay after all. It was kind of romantic too in a way until the Doctor had to expose them to everyone of course.

"Way to go, Jack!" someone from Torchwood shouted.

Jack and Penny were now both embarrassed yet again as the Doctor stood there holding the tablecloth up. The Doctor looked at them with a pitiful look in his eyes as he said, "I'm so sorry, Jack. I didn't mean anything by what I said. I hope that you won't have any hard feelings."

"We both forgive you, Doctor. There is one thing that I'd like to say to you in private though. Can you come just a little closer to me so that I can whisper it to you?" Penny asked.

"Sure," the Doctor said as he knelt down with his face close to Penny's.

Penny quickly pulled her fist back and punched the Doctor right in the mouth knocking him out cold instantly!

"I feel so much better now. Apology accepted, Doctor," Penny said as she pulled the tablecloth down and went back to kissing Jack again.

Rose just shook her head at him as she helped the Doctor to his feet. He woke up confused as he said, "I deserved that, didn't I?"

"Oh, yeah! Let's take you home before Penny finds out that you're awake again," Rose said.

As the Doctor, Rose, and their friends and family quietly left the wedding in the TARDIS, other events were going on nearby that would soon prove very important to Earth's future. Koschei's TARDIS materialized inside of UNIT's base in Peru as he came to deliver an important document. This document could well determine the fate of the whole planet.

Koschei quickly made his way through the base, and then went inside of an exclusive meeting room that he had been given the secret entry code to back on the Valiant. He smiled at how much things had changed for him now. He was actually helping UNIT. What would he find himself doing next? Helping old ladies across the street?

He was becoming much too soft lately. He was going to have to try to take over the world again sometime or at least try to kill the Doctor in order to maintain his reputation. Then he thought of Marissa, and all such thoughts quickly went out of his head. He knew now that his reputation didn't matter to him anymore. Only the woman who would someday be his wife mattered now, and she would definitely not approve of such thoughts. Maybe she'd let him at least hurt the Doctor a little though just for old time's sake. Surely she'd give him that, wouldn't she?

Koschei's thoughts were taken away from his fantasies of shrinking the Doctor down to the size of a doll and feeding him to a cat by the appearance of the woman that he had come all of the way here to see. He held out the document that the Brigadier had given him to her, and she took it from him immediately.

"What's the matter? You don't trust me?" Koschei asked her with a huge grin on his face.

"No. I don't. I wouldn't trust you to tell me what color that the sky is. I'd still have to go see for myself just to make sure," the woman said.

"It's the real deal. You can be sure of that. I couldn't use it anyway. It's not even made out to me," Koschei said.

"I still feel much easier with it in my hands instead of yours," the woman replied.

"Well since it's very clear that I'm not wanted here, I guess I'll leave now that my job's done. I'll see you around. Maybe I'll even vote for you if you decide to run for Prime Minister again," Koschei said with a chuckle.

"I'm certain that will never happen. The Doctor made sure of that," the woman said.

"That's right. You're another ex-Prime Minister that the Doctor ran afoul of, aren't you? Do you think that we could form an I Hate the Doctor Fan Club? I call dibs on the President's seat," Koschei said with a chuckle.

"That will be enough. Please leave," the woman said in an authoritative voice.

"You know you have no sense of humor. No wonder you got thrown out," Koschei said laughing as he walked out of the room and made his way back to his TARDIS.

Harriet Jones, former Prime Minister, sighed as she looked at the document in her hands that handed over the complete control of the Earth in the event of a worldwide alien attack. She desperately hoped that it would never have to be used. She would soon find that her hopes were about to be dashed, however.

Silence was about to fall.

**Next: A major storyline begins that I'm going to call 'Silence falls over the Earth' in the next chapter of this title. Part One begins here, and it will then crossover to most of my other titles for that week as a part of a major storyline that will have the Silence finally carry out their final plan to kill the Doctor and protect the universe from his supposed threat to it. It will ultimately lead to my version of Trenzalore.**


	74. Chapter 74

CHAPTER 74

I do not own Doctor Who and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews!**

**Silence Falls Over the Earth Part 1**

UNIT HQ never knew what hit it. One moment things were proceeding as normal, and then out of nowhere several of the soldiers there just disappeared at once. No one could even remember what had happened to them. They remembered that the soldiers had been there one moment, and then they were gone without any explanation the next.

Then it happened again an hour later as half of the remaining soldiers on the base disappeared just as mysteriously as the others had earlier. No one had any idea what was going on. There wasn't even any evidence as to what had occurred on any of the cameras constantly watching the base. All there was were several minutes of missing film the first time that the soldiers disappeared and then more minutes of missing film the second time.

Martha Jones was completely stumped, but she knew that it definitely seemed like a job for the Doctor. She tried to call him as she usually did whenever something weird was going on, but he never answered his phone which was also just as usual.

"Come on, Doctor, pick up!" Martha said as his number continued to ring and ring with no answer.

Finally she got the following message in response as she heard the voice of the Doctor say, "Hello, this is the Doctor. I can't come to the phone right now. I'm probably in some deadly danger that if I can't stop it in time will bring about the end of the universe. Either that or I've run out of fish fingers and custard and desperately have to restock. Either way, it's a major emergency that could have devastating results if I don't attend to it right now. I'll get back to you as soon as possible if you'll just leave a message at the tone."

Martha groaned in frustration as she said, "For such a brilliant man, he is such an idiot sometimes!"

She knew that she had no choice but to call the next number on her speed dial for emergencies. Luckily for her, Rose Tyler almost always answered her phone unlike some people.

"Rose, I have a little situation here that I need your help with," Martha said as Rose immediately picked up after the first ring.

"Let me guess. The Doctor's run out of jelly babies," Rose said with a giggle.

"Fish fingers and custard actually," Martha replied.

"That man is such a baby sometimes. He acts like it's the end of the world just because he can't stuff a piece of fish in his mouth every five seconds. Now if we had run out of chips, I could understand what the fuss was all about," Rose said as she continued to laugh.

"Can you come right away? There's something seriously wrong here. We have huge groups of soldiers disappearing twice with no apparent cause, and the video of that time has been erased somehow on all of our cameras at once," Martha said worried.

"I'll be there in a couple of minutes," Rose said as she suddenly became deadly serious.

Rose's TARDIS arrived in UNIT's parking lot minutes later, and she emerged to find Martha already there waiting on her along with a full battalion of soldiers. Rose wondered if whatever was attacking UNIT now had any connection to the Silence in any way. She was beginning to think that they were behind everything that had been happening around her lately. She didn't know if she was becoming paranoid, or if it was really true. She dreaded to hear the answer either way though.

Rose only had Mickey and Shareen traveling with her this time. Gwyneth had decided not to take part in this adventure, and Penny was of course on her honeymoon in the 51st century with Jack.

"It seems that something very bad is going on. It's happened again since we've been waiting for you to come. Over half of the soldiers on the base have disappeared in just three hours, and we have no idea where they are," Martha said.

"It's the Silence. It must be," Rose said in irritation.

"I'm sure of it. Did you notice that Gwyneth is missing in action again? That's never a good sign," Mickey said.

"What's that got to do with anything?" Martha asked confused.

"I've told you about it before, Martha. She never goes on the adventures where something really bad is going to happen. She already knows what the future will be," Mickey said.

"Oh, yeah. The Dreaded Gwyneth Disappearance. It seems to be Rose's version of the Tuxedo of Doom. I remember that now," Martha said.

"I burned that Tuxedo by the way," Rose said.

"It's the ending of an era. What's really happening here, Rose?" Martha asked as she finally got to the point.

_Mickey, Shareen, and I already know the answer to that. We've known almost since we arrived here._ Rose said in Shareen, Martha, and Mickey's minds.

_The Silence._ Shareen answered in her thoughts.

Rose nodded.

_They're all around us, aren't they?_ Martha asked.

She hoped that she was doing this right. It was her first telepathic conference.

_You're doing fine. Yes. They are all around us. There are hundreds of them gathered all around us even now. They're the ones taking your soldiers, Martha. I just have no idea why unless they're carrying out some final plan. _Rose replied.

_I don't like the sound of that. What final plan?_ Martha asked.

_If what I suspect is true, it would be their conquest of the Earth. They want to make sure that humanity can't help the Doctor like they did last time when they go after him again._ Rose answered.

_There's still one thing that I don't understand. I thought that you told me that the Doctor put it in humanity's mind to kill the Silence on sight. Why isn't that working anymore?_ Shareen asked.

_They've changed their appearance with perception filters so that no one recognizes them as the Silence anymore. That subconscious order now no longer can be activated since it's based upon the normal appearance of a Silent that the Doctor showed on the moon video. That's why no one has tried to stop them yet._ Rose explained.

_That's pretty devious._ Mickey replied.

_That seems to be Kovarian's style is to be devious and cunning._ Rose responded.

_So kidnapping our soldiers is their way of slowly getting rid of us?_ Martha asked.

_Yes. I wouldn't be surprised if similar things aren't happening all around the world._ Rose answered.

The telepathic conference between them was interrupted by Martha's phone ringing. It was the Brigadier calling from his office at the UNIT base in Peru. Martha put her call through to the loudspeaker so that all of them could hear what he had to say.

"I'm calling to tell you that yours is not the only base to be attacked. Our base here in Peru has been infiltrated as well, and we have several missing soldiers. I've had similar reports from the other UNIT bases all across the world. Someone has declared war on us, Dr. Jones, and we have a very good idea who that is now. We've captured one of our attackers, and once their perception filter was removed they matched the picture of the Silence that the Doctor gave to us. The Silence are the ones who have been attacking our base here in Peru. I assume that they are the ones who are attacking your base and all of the others as well," the Brigadier reported.

"It looks like you were right, Rose," Martha said.

Rose's cell phone rang now too while Martha continued to talk to the Brigadier. When Rose heard who it was, she placed her phone on the loudspeaker as well.

"This is Harriet Jones, former Prime Minister," the voice on the other end said.

"Yes, I know who you are, Harriet. We've known each other since that whole mess with the Slitheen," Rose said with an amused grin on her face.

"Of course, dear. You'll have to excuse me. I just do that automatically now whenever I'm speaking to someone. I got used to introducing myself a lot before I became well known, and I'm afraid that the habit never quite left me," Harriet said.

"Wait a minute! Harriet Jones died. I watched her die," Martha said.

"The Daleks certainly tried, Dr. Jones. I thought that I was done for. Then the next thing that I knew I was safe and far away from them in my mother's house. I've never been so happy in my life. I have no idea what happened to this day. I decided to let everyone keep thinking that I was dead though at the Brigadier's suggestion. He wanted me to come and work with him at the UNIT base in Peru. We've been coming up with a plan to put into action in case a major crisis occurred again that the Doctor was unavailable for again. The Brigadier actually got the idea for it after a failed alien invasion back in the 70's. Unfortunately, it seems now that his plan has to be put into effect at last," Harriet said.

"Yes, I've heard about the attack on the base in Peru. The Brigadier just told Martha about it," Rose said.

"It isn't just UNIT that's under attack, Rose. It's every organized military force throughout the world. Reports are coming in from all of them. They're all being attacked in the same way that UNIT is. The Silence have declared war on the entire planet, and they're defeating all of our armed forces without a single shot being fired so far. We have already put the Brigadier's contingency plan into effect now in case they go after all of the world's leaders next. I'm just informing you of this in case the worst comes to pass," Harriet said.

"Thank you for keeping me updated, Harriet. Believe me when I tell you that I don't want the worst to happen," Rose said.

"We could have made a far worse choice, Rose. I have every confidence in our plan's success if it has to be put into action though. I'll keep you aware of the situation. Good bye for now," Harriet said as she ended the call.

"Why was she calling you about that for?" Mickey asked with curiosity.

Rose said nothing. She only smiled.

"What are you up to?" Shareen asked.

"Nothing," Rose said.

"You're up to something, Rose Tyler. I've known you forever, and I know when you're keeping something from me. Spill it!" Shareen ordered.

_Not with the Silence listening._ Rose said in her mind as she gave her a warning look.

Shareen nodded in understanding and became quiet. She had actually forgotten about their constant watchers for a moment. Surprisingly, she had gotten used to seeing them all of the time.

"I have a feeling that this is only the tip of the iceberg. Things are only going to get worse from here on," Rose said ominously.

Rose was right of course. The Silence were springing into action in all of the capitals and major cities across the planet and taking the armies of the world and anyone else who could provide any trained resistance to them like UNIT prisoner slowly one by one in secret. They were taking them to various hidden locations worldwide for their own special brand of brainwashing as they prepared to carry out their final plan to conquer the Earth. That was step one.

Now step two began. Step two involved getting the leaders of the world to surrender to them once there were no more armies left in any country with which to fight them with since all of them would be either captured or controlled by the Silence at that point. The Brigadier was still on the phone with Martha as step two began.

"Dr. Jones, we're getting several confirmed sightings of representatives of the Silence appearing in every world capital now. They're asking all of the world's governments to surrender to the Silence. So far no one has yet, but that may change soon. We've already received reports that several countries' armies have all but disappeared already," the Brigadier informed Martha.

That was when the Silence finally showed themselves at UNIT HQ as several Headless Monks transmatted in out of nowhere along with members of the Silence. They were led by a familiar face to Rose. Magnus Greel.

"We demand this base surrender to the Silence now, or we will burn it to the ground. Please say no. I would love to set Mister Thanatos against you," Greel said with an evil smile as the Raston Warrior Robot suddenly appeared out of nowhere right beside him.

Colonel Mace appeared then with a gun in his hand as he said, "I'm afraid that the answer is no. Take your men and leave now, or we will be forced to make them leave."

"You can try. I should very much love to see that because you see it isn't just us that you will have to fight," Greel said as he started to laugh.

Several brainwashed UNIT soldiers now appeared out of nowhere and pointed their guns at their former comrades. They were now ready to kill at Greel's command.

"You may see some familiar faces on our side, Colonel. Can you kill your own?" Greel said with glee.

"If I have to, yes," Mace said with no emotion on his face.

"Have at it then. Kill them. Take this place for the Silence," Greel commanded.

The brainwashed soldiers began to fire on their former allies now as Colonel Mace ordered his men to return fire. Rose knew that she would have to reveal her secret soon now. She couldn't wait any longer. Many people were going to die if she didn't.

"Destroy them all, Mr. Thanatos! Kill Rose Tyler first! Once she falls, the others will follow," Greel ordered.

As Mr. Thanatos sprang into action, so did Rose. She pulled out her Vortex Screwdriver and aimed it at the killer robot. Mr. Thanatos started to shake out of control as he began to fire sharp metal darts from his hands at Rose. Rose dodged the deadly projectiles as she continued to attack the robot relentlessly. Mr. Thanatos shook out of control now, and smoke began to come out of him as he continued to try to kill Rose. Mr. Thanatos was now only moments away from having his circuits overloaded by Rose's screwdriver.

That was when one of the Headless Monks knocked the screwdriver from Rose's hand, and another Monk cut it in two with his sword. A large group of the Monks surrounded her now and began to pile up on top of her. She quickly disappeared underneath a sea of them and was lost from sight.

"Rose!" Shareen screamed.

Several soldiers had already fallen now as the Silence overwhelmed them with their superior numbers and firepower. Greel looked on in glee as it seemed that final victory was inevitable. After all, no one had been able to stand up to the Silence so far.

That was about to change.

Mr. Thanatos took Shareen by surprise because she was still distracted by what was happening to Rose. Before anyone could help her, Mr. Thanatos broke Shareen's neck and threw her to the ground. Then he killed Mickey with a projectile to the heart. Martha screamed in anguish as he went after her next.

Greel smiled as he knew that this would be what broke Rose. He knew her type, and this would be what would drive her over the edge at last. He had no idea how right that he was.

Rose could feel Shareen and Mickey die through her partial link to their minds that had allowed them to be able to see the Silence. She was instantly filled with anger. The anger took control now, and Rose could no longer hide the truth about her secret. Not that she wanted to. It was time now. It was time to show everyone the truth.

The Headless Monks were all thrown away from Rose at once and flung in all directions. Now Rose could be seen again as she stood up off of the ground and began to glow with the power of the Vortex. She gestured at Mr. Thanatos and disintegrated him in less than a second!

"At last! The truth is revealed. Rose Tyler is still the Bad Wolf. I knew that I would break you. The Silence will finally know the truth about you at last. Now! Use the weapon on her again and remove her connection to the Vortex forever!" Greel instructed some of the Silence.

Several of the Silence came forward with hand held versions of the weapon that had been used on her before by the Emperor of the Daleks that had almost killed her. There weren't going to get the chance to use them on her though. Not this time.

Rose gestured at them, and they all disappeared in an instant before they could fire a single shot. She had sent them all back to wherever they had come from.

"Everyone kill her now. Focus all of your attention on her," Greel said.

All of the Silence and the Headless Monks started to attack Rose now as the brainwashed soldiers continued to battle the others for control of the UNIT base. Greel pulled out his own version of the Vortex Destroyer, what Kovarian called the weapon that could break a Vortex user's connection to the Vortex, and aimed it at Rose while she was distracted with the others.

"Say good bye, Rose Tyler. You were a worthy foe, but I was so much better than you. Now the Earth will belong to the Silence," Greel said.

Martha knocked Greel to the ground with a solid punch to the jaw. She didn't stop there though. She continued to keep hitting him over and over again as she screamed at him, "You killed him! You killed him!"

Greel was helpless against her. She continued to rain blow after blow down on him with no mercy. He had never felt such fury from anyone before. He had thought that it was Rose who was the one that he needed to worry about the most, but he was wrong. He had underestimated the anger of a woman who has lost what mattered the most to her.

Rose knew that things were getting worse and worse as more Silence began to appear holding the Vortex Destroyers. She knew that they would be using them on her in moments, and that they only had to hit her once in order to destroy her forever.

Colonel Mace knew this as well, and he knew that the world couldn't afford to lose her. She had to stay alive because humanity needed her. He knew that she would stay and fight to the death to save him and his men if she had to so he was forced to make a very hard decision now.

"We surrender! Do you hear me? We surrender!" Colonel Mace shouted with distaste in his mouth as he swallowed his pride in order to save Rose.

The Silence stopped fighting now as they halted in confusion while the UNIT soldiers laid down their arms. The soldiers all held up their hands in surrender next as Mace shouted, "Run, Rose! Run!"

Rose quickly teleported herself, Martha, and the bodies of Mickey and Shareen back to her TARDIS. She dematerialized the TARDIS and escaped into the Vortex as Greel slowly got up off of the ground. He was a battered, bruised, and bloody mess now thanks to Martha, but he was actually smiling. He had won!

"It won't do you any good, Colonel. Rose Tyler may have escaped, but sooner or later we will kill her and all of her allies. You've only delayed the inevitable," Greel said.

"Maybe or maybe I've just helped to bring about your doom," Mace said defiantly.

"Take him away," Greel ordered.

As Mace and the others were taken away to be brainwashed, the base was finally taken over by the Silence. Greel then reported the news that Rose still had her powers to Kovarian in triumph.

"Excellent. Now we know the quickest way to kill her. This is the beginning, Mr. Greel. Soon the entire planet will belong to us. Then Gallifrey itself will fall next. There will be no one left to help the Doctor in the end this time. We will take all of his allies away from him one by one. He will be all alone when we finally kill him at last. Silence will not fall. I'll make sure of that," Kovarian said with all of the intensity of a fanatic.

Meanwhile in the Vortex, Martha cried over Mickey's dead body as Rose said, "It's going to be alright, Martha."

Rose gestured at the two bodies, and Mickey and Shareen instantly returned to life as they were surrounded by a golden glow. Both Rose and Martha began to cry as Shareen and Mickey both got up off of the floor with confusion in their eyes.

"What just happened?" Mickey asked.

Martha began to kiss him tenderly while she wept openly. Mickey didn't know what was going on for sure, but he thought to himself that it couldn't be all bad if he was getting a kiss out of it.

"Rose, did I die?" Shareen asked Rose with a haunted look on her face.

"Yes. You're okay now though," Rose said in a gentle voice.

"You had to give up your secret because of us, didn't you? Now you're on the run from them, aren't you?" Shareen asked as she realized what had happened.

"I couldn't let the two of you die for good. You're my best friends," Rose said in an emotional voice.

"Thank you! I love you, Rose," Shareen said as she hugged her best friend tightly.

"I love you too," Rose said to her as she returned the hug.

"Thank you, Rose! Thank you!" Martha said gratefully as she held onto Mickey tightly as if she was afraid to let him go.

"Thank you! I'm just sorry that you're in even more danger now because of us," Mickey said regretfully.

"That's a price that I'm willing to pay. It had to happen sooner or later so it might as well be now," Rose said with no trace of regret at all in her voice.

Rose's cell phone rang again, and she saw that it was Harriet calling her. She could hear a conversation going on in the background as soon as she answered the call, and she instantly knew that Harriet had called her in secret because she had wanted her to hear what was going on.

"The world's governments still refuse to surrender to us even now when we are turning their own armies against them, Miss Jones. Would you care to enlightenment me as to why that is?" Rose heard Kovarian say on the other end of the line.

"Yes, I'd be glad to. They can't surrender to you because they no longer have the authority to do so," Harriet said.

"What are you talking about? If the world's governments no longer have the authority to surrender the world to me, then who does? Tell me!" Kovarian asked in confusion.

"All of the world's governments have signed their authority over the countries, armies, and peoples of the Earth over to two people. Two people who they trust over all others," Harriet said.

"Who would that be then? Are you one of them? Is that why you know so much about this?" Kovarian asked.

"No, it's not me, Kovarian. The only people who can legally surrender the Earth to you now are still out there somewhere leading the resistance against you. They won't rest until humanity is safe from you. If you're listening to this, Rose, keep fighting them! Don't let them win!" Harriet shouted.

"Destroy her!" Kovarian ordered.

Rose snapped her fingers while her eyes glowed, and Harriet instantly appeared inside of her TARDIS. Harriet laughed as she ran to embrace Rose while she thanked her profusely.

"Well, I couldn't let my favorite Prime Minister die, could I?" Rose said happily.

"I don't get it. Who is in charge of the world now?" Shareen asked.

Rose only smiled as she made a quick call on her cell phone. She had to set the Brigadier's plan into motion now. She only hoped that this worked. She crossed her fingers for luck as the person on the other end finally picked up the phone.

"It's time. The Silence have attacked, and now the world needs us. It's time to do what you do best," Rose said to the person on the other end.

"I hoped I'd never have to take part in another war, but it looks like I have no choice," the Doctor said.

"By the authority vested in me by all of the governments of this world, I hereby hand over total control of this planet to you and Rose, Doctor," Harriet said as she handed the document that Koschei had given her to Rose.

"I promise you that I'm going to be the coolest ruler in all of Earth's history, Harriet. Maybe I'll wear a crown. I'd look good with a crown, wouldn't I? I would wear my fez, but somebody burned all of them," the Doctor said.

"Doctor, stop babbling and get to work! The Earth is in danger. They're threatening to destroy my home. Don't let them do it," Rose said in an impassioned plea to him.

"I'm already on it, Rose. I'm gathering together a lot of allies already to take on the Silence with while Marissa is working on developing a way to let everyone see the Silence using the secrets of Leela's DNA. They know that you still have your powers now, don't they?" the Doctor asked.

He already knew the answer to that question through his link with her, but he wanted to talk it over with her.

"Yes. I had to reveal myself to them because they killed Shareen and Mickey," Rose said sadly.

"It's okay, Rose. It was going to come out sooner or later. I'm surprised that you were able to keep it a secret this long. You deserve a lot of credit for coming up with ways around your powers. You always were the cleverest person that I knew though," the Doctor said.

"Whoa! You just said that I was smarter than you. You do realize that, don't you?" Rose asked with a trace of a smile appearing on her face now.

"For once, I don't mind not being the cleverest person around. Stay safe, Rose," the Doctor said.

"You too, Doctor. I'll see you soon," Rose said as she hung up.

They had already decided if this ever happened to split up in order to make it harder for the Silence to find them. Rose now headed off by herself to find her own allies. She had several people already in mind to recruit in order to help her stop the Silence once and for all. She now raced to meet them.

Meanwhile back on Earth, Kovarian walked through the streets of London as she had Colonel Mace brought to her. She had used her Vortex Manipulator to come here right away in order to see if she could find out just who was in charge of the planet now. She believed that she already knew, but she had to hear it from Mace to make sure. She would crush these new leaders whoever they were and use their defeat to finally crush the morale of the humans forever.

"Who leads humanity now?" Kovarian asked Mace.

"Yes, you're quite right," Mace said as he smiled at her sarcastically now.

"Stop playing games with me, Colonel. Tell me what I want to know. Now!" Kovarian ordered him.

"Let him go!" a voice called out to her.

Kovarian turned and her face blanched in horror as she saw who had spoken to her at last. An entire army of Daleks now stood ready to wipe her and the Silence off of the face of the Earth, and they were being led by a woman that she had only heard about in whispers.

"Give up, Kovarian, or my Daleks are going to take you and your little friends apart," Oswin Oswald said in a cold voice.

"SURRENDER IN THE NAME OF THE EMPRESS, OR WE WILL EXTERMINATE YOU!" Oswin's Daleks chanted in unison behind her.

**Next for Silence Falls Over the Earth: Part 2 of this story can be found in Oswin Osward, Time's Guardian Chapter 22 coming soon.**

**Next for this title: The fallout from the final war against the Silence can be felt here next time as Rose has to deal with what happened to Cassiopeia at Trenzalore. If that doesn't get you to keep reading the Silence story, then nothing will!**


	75. Chapter 75

CHAPTER 75

I do not own Doctor Who and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews!**

After the events of the war between Earth and the Silence, both Shareen and Mickey wanted a little time to relax. It wasn't every day that they died after all, and it was pretty traumatic to them to say the least. They noticed that Gwyneth looked so guilty every time that they saw her now, and they knew that she had known what was going to happen to them. Gwyneth always knew everything that was going to happen after all since she knew about the future.

Rose knew that her friends needed some down time so she decided to just keep her TARDIS in the Vortex for a while in order to let them relax. She was still traumatized by their deaths herself if she was being honest. She loved them both like family, and it had shocked her deeply when they died.

Now she found herself wanting to lock them both up in the TARDIS and never let them back out again in order to keep them safe. She would never do that of course, but it was her natural protective nature at work wanting to keep her loved ones safe. She looked at both of them with a guilty look too now every time that they spoke to her. She couldn't even look Martha in the eye.

Both Martha and Harriet Jones were still traveling with Rose but staying in communication with Earth through their cell phones which Rose had done some jiggery pokery on to give them universal roaming. They were working with UNIT and the British government to keep things running smoothly in the rebuilding of the nation. Rose had asked them if they wanted her to drop them off, but they had both decided separately to stay on a little longer. She suspected that they both wanted to stay to offer all three of them their moral support if they needed it.

She then felt the presence of someone approaching her TARDIS through the Vortex and smiled. One of the few good things to come out of her recent experiences was now about to visit her.

Marina appeared inside of the Console Room in a burst of golden energy shocking everyone but Rose. Rose immediately went to her and hugged her tightly.

"Hey, sweetie! Decide to come and pay me a visit?" Rose said as she kissed her daughter's forehead.

"Yeah, I figured that you might need someone to talk to about everything that's happened. I mean it's got to make your head spin finding out that I'm really Cassiopeia and have been all along," Marina said.

"Yes, it did make my head spin but in a good way," Rose said happily.

"Wait a minute. So Marina was also Cassiopeia?" Mickey asked in amazement.

"Yes. I regenerated and became Marina. Hi!" Marina said as she waved.

"Time Lords! Nothing is ever simple with them," Mickey said with a sigh while Martha laughed at him.

"Tell me about it. Time Lords can drive you crazy. I know that from experience," Rose said as she thought of the Doctor.

Everyone in the Console Room just stared at her as if she had lost her mind.

"Mum, you're a Time Lord," Marina finally said.

"For a moment, I forgot. I do that sometimes. Part of me still thinks of myself as a human, Cassiopeia. I know that's probably hard for you to understand," Rose said.

"A little but I think I get it. You were happy as Rose Tyler, and you don't want to let her go. I can understand that," Marina said.

"It's more than that. Rose is who I really am. She's who I always wanted to be. I think Marina is that for you, isn't she?" Rose asked.

"Yes. Cassiopeia hurt people and did terrible things. I liked being Marina better most of the time. She was a happy innocent child who hadn't done anything to anyone and who everyone loved. No one was afraid of her or hated her. She had never killed anyone. It was easy to get lost in playing her although I still hated not being able to tell you who I really was. I am relieved that I don't have to do that anymore," Marina admitted.

"None of that was your fault. It was Kovarian. She made you into what you were. You're still innocent. You've done nothing wrong," Rose said in a gentle voice.

"I wish I could convince myself of that," Marina said sadly.

"I always thought of you as a very kind person, Marina. I don't think that was an act either," Shareen said.

"Thank you, Aunt Shareen. I appreciate that," Marina said as she started to smile again.

"I personally don't think that any child of Rose Tyler's could possibly have one ounce of evil in them. It's just not possible," Harriet said encouragingly.

Rose smiled gratefully at her for that even as it seemed to cheer Marina up even more. Marina had a thoughtful look on her face now as if she was considering something.

"What is it, honey?" Rose asked.

"I'm thinking about doing something. It's something life changing. I'm not sure if I should do it or not. I've outgrown my childlike persona for sure now so it's time for a change I think. I need to do something that will show the new me. Something that will finally put my past behind me forever," Marina said as she thought out loud.

"You're not going to regenerate are you? You should save your lives for when you need them," Rose said.

"No, I wasn't talking about regeneration, Mum. I like this body. I just don't like being a child. I never did. I only stayed this way because history said that I had to. I'm not a child though, and I no longer want to be treated like one by anyone. Not even subconsciously," Marina said as she started to glow.

"What's going on? I thought you weren't regenerating," Mickey said nervously as he started to back away.

"I'm not," Marina said.

She suddenly began aging rapidly and everyone including Rose gasped in shock. Marina didn't stop until she looked to be around twenty years old. Even her clothes changed along with her so that they would still fit as she grew larger. Then she looked back at everyone with a smile as she said in a now mature sounding voice, "Oh, yes. That's much better. Now I can finally be taken seriously I hope. Besides I don't want to be a little girl forever. Hello, world. Marina Tyler is ready to rock and roll."

Rose started to smile as she said, "You are so much like your father it's not funny. I like it that you want to use my last name though. Are you sure you won't use Cassiopeia?"

"No, I won't for the foreseeable future at least anyway, Mum. I'm sorry. I know that you like my original name, but I'm just not comfortable with it at the moment. Maybe later. You know I really don't like this outfit. I'm going to change it," Marina said with a wry grin.

Her clothes altered until she was now wearing a jeans jacket and a mini skirt. She nodded at that and started to laugh as Rose looked at her short skirt in horror.

"You've been hanging around your Aunt Amy too long I think. You do know that your Dad's going to hit the roof right?" Rose said with a sigh.

"I know. It'll be fun. It's the new me, Mum. I hope you eventually like her," Marina said as she hugged Rose.

"I already like her. I'll like you no matter who you become as long as you stay the same person on the inside, Cassiopeia," Rose said as she returned her daughter's hug.

"Amazing. A child becomes an adult in moments. Is there anything Time Lords can't do?" Harriet said in fascination.

"Quite a bit actually. It helps if you're also connected to the Space-Time Vortex," Rose said.

"You mean you could change your age like that too?" Mickey asked curiously.

"Yep but I don't want to. I like looking like I do now. I'm frozen at the age I feel most comfortable with," Rose said.

"Must be nice," Martha said.

"I think you look good. You don't need to change your age," Mickey reassured her.

"Not yet but I won't stay young forever like Rose," Martha said.

Rose began to look depressed as she knew that it was true. Everyone there except Marina would age and die. Every trace of Rose's human life would be gone someday. She always knew it in the back of her mind, but this just rammed the point home for her.

"Rose?" Shareen asked as she noticed the change in her.

"It's nothing. I finally know what the Doctor meant about the curse of the Time Lords now is all," Rose said.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Rose. I said it without thinking. I didn't mean to upset you," Martha said as she realized what Rose was so sad about now.

"It's okay. I just have to enjoy all of you while I have you is all, and I will. As a matter of fact, how about we go somewhere now to make the most of that time together," Rose said as she tried to change the subject.

"Rose, don't do that. Don't do the whole cover up your emotions with a fake smile and a new trip tactic. It's just what the Doctor would do," Mickey said.

"I know. I just don't want to think about it anymore, and I know that all of you are depressed enough. Why can't we just have a nice trip somewhere to make ourselves feel better?" Rose asked.

"I agree. Let's go to London in the Swinging Sixties. I always wanted to go there," Marina said.

"You're certainly dressed for them, but I don't think so. How about somewhere different? Somewhere much more interesting," Rose said as she went to the console.

"Please, not the Planet of the Chips again, Rose. You wound up eating so many chips the last time that you went there that you got sick to your stomach for two days afterwards," Shareen said with a groan.

"Yeah but I had such a wonderful time until then," Rose said with a huge smile on her face.

"Oh, Mum! I really need to stick around you more often to make sure that you're taking care of yourself better," Marina said as she rolled her eyes at her.

"Hey, I'm not a child," Rose said indignantly.

"Now you know how Dad feels when you do that to him," Marina said as she began to giggle.

"Whose side are you on? It's supposed to be all of the girls and me against him you know?" Rose said with a grin.

"I'm on both of your sides. I just pick and choose whose side that I'm on that day at my own discretion is all," Marina said happily.

Rose finished putting in a new destination into the console, and the TARDIS started on its way. She told no one where they were going even though she knew that they were all dying to know.

"Not Barcelona. Please no!" Mickey said in such a mournful tone that Martha burst out laughing.

"No, Mickey. It isn't Barcelona. Not this time," Rose said with a grin.

"Oh, thank goodness. My arms and back hurt for weeks afterwards," Mickey said.

"Stop that," Rose said.

"It's actually kind of true, Rose. He complained like a baby for days about how he couldn't move. He wanted me to wait on him hand and foot and I said no," Martha said.

"You said more than that as I remember," Mickey said with a grimace.

"Yeah but I wasn't going to tell them that though," Martha said as she signaled to him to shut up.

Rose chuckled at their bickering as the TARDIS finally landed. Now was the time to reveal their new destination to them at last.

"Ladies and gentleman, I give you a luxury cruise. I've snuck us onto a cruise ship. We're going on a fun trip on the ocean. You're all going to love it," Rose said with glee.

She opened the door of the TARDIS to find screaming and a mass panic. She realized immediately where she was from the old fashioned clothes on everyone.

"What is this?" Rose asked in anger as she closed the door and stared at the console.

"What is it? What's out there?" Shareen asked.

"It's a passenger ship alright. It's certainly not the one that I picked though. It's not even the right century," Rose said fuming.

"Where are we, Rose?" Mickey asked.

"I didn't put it in by accident. I double checked the coordinates. This is not where I picked to go. The TARDIS did this to me on purpose for some reason. This is not my fault. I know that sounds like something that the Doctor would say, but I'm not turning into him. I'm not," Rose protested.

"What is going on, Rose?" Harriet said in a patient voice.

"Tell them, Mum," Marina said as she could barely suppress a smile. She could feel where they were already of course with her powers.

"We're on the Titanic," Rose said in a low voice.

"Sorry, we're where?" Shareen asked.

"We're on the Titanic, okay?!" Rose shouted.

"You've become just like him, Rose. This is just like something that he would do," Martha said as she began to laugh.

"I know. I know," Rose said in a sad, depressed voice as she put her head in her hands in despair.

All of them looked at her with a smile on their faces as she went toward the console to change their destination. She just kept shaking her head as she tried to think of what had gone wrong. The only thing that she could think of was that the TARDIS brought her here on purpose for some reason, but the question was why. She couldn't change things after all because it was a fixed point in time.

Before she could start putting in new coordinates, however, she started to hear a banging on the TARDIS door. She looked at the door in shock, and everyone froze at the sound.

Rose turned on the monitor to see a terrified young woman outside. She could see the look of panic on her face, and instantly her heart went out to her. She wanted to save her, but she knew that she couldn't. It broke her heart, but she couldn't alter history this way. This was a fixed point in time. All of this had to occur unaltered to preserve the timestream.

"Rose, can't we at least let her in? She's so young," Harriet said.

"I want to but I can't. I can't change the events of this day. It makes me feel like a monster but I can't," Rose said in an upset voice.

Then to everyone's shock, the TARDIS door opened; and the young woman came rushing in as the door instantly shut behind her. Rose glared at the console. Her TARDIS was doing it to her again. She had let someone in without her permission once again just like she had with Francine. Of course, Francine had turned out to be Amy's sister, Selene. Was this woman a Time Lady in disguise too? Was that why she had been brought here?

The woman looked around her in complete shock as she said, "Where am I? What is this place?"

"No, I'm going to ask the questions. Who are you and how did you know to come in here for safety?" Rose asked.

"My name is May. May Rutledge. I don't know why I came in here. I just did. I felt like I needed to be here somehow. Is it safe here? Can you get me off of this ship before it's too late? Please don't let me die here!" the woman begged her.

Rose looked at her timeline and saw amazingly that it didn't end here. The problem was that she couldn't see what lay in store for May. It was as if her story was still being written, and she had no concrete future.

"Computer, what happens to May Rutledge on the Titanic?" Rose asked.

The holographic interface that looked and acted like Jackie materialized out of nowhere shocking May. She looked at Rose in fear and looked like she wanted to run.

"It's okay. She works for me," Rose reassured her with a warm smile.

"Oh, I like that. I work for you, huh?" the Jackie hologram grumbled.

"Well, it's supposed to work that way, yes. Why do I feel like in this case that you've got a will and an agenda of your own?" Rose asked.

The hologram never answered Rose's question as she said, "May Rutledge was reported missing in the sinking of the Titanic, but her body was never found. She was presumed dead but there was no definitive evidence of this in the historical record."

"So we could save her, right? It doesn't sound like we would be changing anything," Shareen said hopefully.

"Please help her, Rose. I wouldn't feel right leaving her here to die," Harriet said.

"You don't have to worry about that, Harriet. Rose would never let her go back out there," Mickey said.

"You're so sure of that, are you?" Rose asked.

"Yeah, I am. I know you, Rose. You'd never willingly condemn anyone, especially an innocent person, to death. Your heart's too big for that," Mickey said.

"You're not going to let me die, are you?" May asked Rose in fear.

"No, of course not," Rose said in a gentle voice.

"See, I told you. I know Rose like the back of my hand," Mickey said smugly.

"If you know me so well, then you know what's about to happen to you next if you don't quit running your mouth, don't you?" Rose asked.

Mickey's hands went up protectively in front of his face as everyone began laughing at him. Even May laughed nervously. She still was unsure of her place here or even what here was.

"That's right, Mickey. I would have to reacquaint you with the back of my hand. I know that you know it pretty well too. I've slapped you enough with it over the years," Rose said with a grin.

Mickey suddenly went silent and lost all of his cockiness from before. Martha couldn't help but laugh at him even as she wrapped her arms around him.

"You're going to have to teach me how to do that to him, Rose. There's been lots of times that I'd love to shut him up like that," Martha said with a giggle.

"I'll tell you all about the Tyler slap, but it's a secret just between us, okay? I don't want my specialized techniques being spread about all over the place," Rose joked.

"Got it," Martha agreed.

"Where are we? Is this the way to safety?" May asked.

"This is a time machine, May. It can go anywhere and everywhere in time and space. I'd say that it brought me to you by accident, but I don't believe that for a moment," Rose said as she looked pointedly at the Jackie hologram who looked away from her.

"A time machine? Like in Mr. Wells' book?" May said in a more relaxed and now excited voice.

"Yes except mine's much better than his. It makes his look like a dusty old antique," Rose said.

"This is incredible. Either I'm going mad or this is the discovery of a lifetime," May said as she walked hesitantly up to the console.

"Go ahead. Touch it. It's real," Rose encouraged her.

May slowly reached for the console and smiled as she felt it under her fingers. She began to look visibly relaxed as she assured herself that she wasn't losing her mind.

"Where are you taking me then? Can I go home?" May asked.

"Where's home?" Rose asked.

"I used to live in Chiswick. I was going to America to look for a better life. I almost died instead. I think I'd like to just go back to Chiswick," May said.

"I don't think that I can do that, May. No one ever saw you again. I have to take you to another time so that you won't change history by coming back," Rose explained.

"I guess that's alright. I don't really have any real connections to this time anyway. I honestly never felt like I belonged here. My mind was always on the future and what would happen there. Yes, I think I like that. Please take me to the future, Miss," May said.

"It's Rose and your wish is my command. First though, I need to know one thing. Would you rather travel with me instead?" Rose asked.

"Do you mean that I could travel to other times and go to whatever time that I wanted? I could see the past and the future?" May asked in an excited voice.

"Yes, that's right. I also go to other planets," Rose said.

"Like Mars?" May asked in an even more excited tone.

"Yeah but I don't recommend you go there. The Ice Warriors aren't too friendly to humans," Rose said.

"There really are Martians? Aliens are real?" May asked with a huge grin on her face.

"Yes, they certainly are. You're looking at one right now," Rose said.

"It's very nice to meet you. I've finally met a Martian!" May shouted in excitement.

"I'm not a Martian. I'm a Time Lord," Rose said in irritation as Marina began to laugh at her.

"This is starting to seem very familiar to me," Martha commented with a smile as she thought about what Donna told her about her first meeting with the Doctor.

"I would love to travel with you. When do we start? Where do we go first? Are you all Martians?" May asked as she fired one question after another out at Rose in rapid succession.

"None of us are Martians. My mother and I are from a planet called Gallifrey. Everyone else here are humans just like you," Marina said with an amused grin on her face.

"No Martians?" May asked disappointed.

"I'm afraid not," Marina said.

"I so wanted to meet a Martian," May said.

"I guess Time Lords are chopped liver," Rose said with a chuckle.

She went to the console and punched in some new coordinates. The TARDIS dematerialized as May looked at the central column go up and down in wonderment. Her thoughts were still dominated with going to Mars even in that moment.

That and something else.

"Do you have a kitchen? I suddenly have a craving for an omelet. I hope you have a lot of eggs. I love to bake things. I can make omelets, cakes, pies, and all kinds of desserts. I was going to America to see if I could become a chef or at least find work in a restaurant. I'd love to have a restaurant of my own someday," May said as she chatted away happily.

"Once you get her started talking, you can't shut her up," Mickey whispered to Martha.

"We certainly do have a kitchen. I have a lot of eggs; and if you need any more, just go to the food machine. I'll show you how to use it," Rose said as she smiled at her.

She liked May already. She seemed to be so familiar to her somehow. Almost as if she had known her somewhere before and yet she knew that she hadn't.

May happily got started in the kitchen as she started to bake. She started to fish around in her pockets for some old recipes that she carried around with her. She then felt a watch in her pocket and pulled it out a minute to look at it. She looked at it dully as if it didn't quite register in her mind, and then put it back in her pocket. She forgot about the fob watch as soon as she lost sight of it.

"She said that she's going to make us a big cake to thank us for saving her life. I told her to make it chocolate," Rose said.

"There's something strange about her," Shareen said.

"I know. The TARDIS brought me here on purpose. It wasn't just an accident. There's something special about her there's no doubt that about that. I just have to find out what," Rose said.

"Do you think that she might be dangerous?" Mickey asked.

"I don't think so. I get the feeling that she's just as nice as she seems to be. I just wonder why the TARDIS took such an interest in her," Rose pondered.

Gwyneth watched them talking about the new arrival with a grin on her face. At least this time she wasn't keeping a deadly secret from them. This secret was a very pleasant one although it would turn out to be very confusing and perplexing to everyone especially the Doctor in the long run. She was glad that May had come along when she did to lift the spirits of her friends. She had already taken their minds off of the horrible events of the war with the question of her identity.

She hoped that it put all of the morbid thoughts out of Rose's mind of her friends' mortality as well. She wondered if that was part of the reason why the TARDIS had brought them to May. Maybe programming her hologram to act like Jackie had moved her to protect her 'daughter' from herself by bringing her to May as a much needed distraction.

If so, she was very grateful to the TARDIS in that moment. It seemed that each of them in their own way worked to protect Rose and keep her going. She knew that Rose would continue to need someone to watch out for her during the events that lay ahead, and she was glad to do her part. She would always try to watch out for her friend in every way that she could.

Meanwhile back on Earth, the second in command of a major charitable organization reported to his employer on the status of their latest project. He had long grown accustomed to doing odd things with the money at his disposal as he followed out the orders of his mysterious boss, but this was very strange work for a charitable organization to be involving itself in.

"We've already set up the campaign calling for Harriet Jones to run for Prime Minister once again, Ma'am. We're flooding television, radio, the internet, and all of the major newspapers with several ads urging people to contact her and tell her that they want her back in office. I still don't understand why we're getting involved in politics, Ma'am. We don't even know if Harriet Jones is even still alive much less interested in running for Prime Minister again. I don't even think anyone would want her to run again based on how badly she lost to Harold Saxon before," the man said.

"I have it on very good authority that she is still alive. Harold Saxon rigged that election by the way. He didn't win it fairly at all. Not in the slightest. I'm working to undo that. I want to put Harriet Jones back in her rightful place again. She's a good woman who deserves her chance to change this country for the better. A chance that was stolen from her, Mr. Curtis," Edith Cole, Simon Curtis' employer, responded.

"Not a fan of Mr. Saxon, are you?" Simon asked with a smile.

"No. Noticed that, did you?" Edith asked.

"You know you kind of look like his wife somewhat. It's uncanny. Of course she died years ago so you couldn't possibly be her," Simon said with a laugh.

"No, I couldn't, could I? It's all just a strange coincidence. That's all it is," Edith said with a knowing grin on her face.

"Well anyway. The campaign to get Harriet Jones to run for Prime Minister again is underway. I just thought that I'd let you know," Simon said as he left.

"Thank you," Edith called out to him before he shut the door.

Then the woman who used to be Lucy Saxon said to herself in a low voice, "I'm going to undo every rotten thing that we did together, Harry, even if it takes the rest of my life and all of my fortune. I'm going to make a difference with my second chance at life, and I'll make Arkytior proud."

**Next: Harriet Jones finds out that a sizable portion of the public wants her to run for Prime Minister again. Will she? Does she even have a chance at winning if she does? Also just who is the mysterious woman who is also running for Prime Minister who seems so familiar to Rose? I'll give you a hint. An old enemy of the Doctor and Rose's has returned who is never satisfied with her looks. **


	76. Chapter 76

CHAPTER 76

I do not own Doctor Who and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews!**

Rose ran out of the TARDIS as soon as it materialized on Pete's World. She had come to see her mother for the first time since the Silence had started following her around. She had been pretending to have no powers until recently to fool the Silence so she couldn't come here before, and she had missed seeing her. She could have come to visit her in the TARDIS, but then she would have exposed her mother to the Silence who were always on the TARDIS. She hadn't wanted to risk any of them staying behind to bother her when she left so she had decided not to come at all until the whole situation was over with.

She walked into the house calling for her mother, but no one answered her. She immediately sensed that something was wrong, and a feeling of dread went through her. She was terrified that something had happened. She knew that if it had that she would never forgive herself for not being there.

When she came back out of what had turned out to be an empty house, she found Mickey and Shareen standing in front of her TARDIS. They could see by the look on her face that something was wrong.

"What is it, Rose?" Shareen asked.

"I don't know. No one's at home. Something's wrong," Rose said.

"We could go to Torchwood and find out from them," Mickey suggested.

"I've got a better way," Rose said as she became the Bad Wolf.

"That still amazes me every time I see it," Mickey admitted.

Rose grinned to herself for a minute at his response as she reached out through the immediate area to find any trace of Jackie, Tony, or Pete. She finally found them at the nearest hospital. Her heart sank further as she searched the hospital until she came to the exact room. She immediately found out that her mother was sick. She could see her in her mind's eye lying on a hospital bed.

_Mum, what's happened?_ Rose said telepathically in Jackie's mind.

As she lay in her bed, Jackie was suddenly startled and looked around her in confusion until she realized who had just spoken to her. She smiled to herself as soon as she knew that meant that Rose was nearby.

_Rose?_ Jackie asked in her thoughts.

_Mum, are you alright? What happened?_ Rose asked.

_I have pneumonia. The doctors say that I'm going to be okay though. Don't worry. They say that I just need a few days of rest here._ Jackie replied.

_I'm coming, Mum. I'm so sorry. I should have been here._ Rose responded in an upset tone.

_I'm going to be fine, Rose._ Jackie replied and then she shook her head when she realized that Rose wasn't there anymore.

It was no surprise to Jackie in the slightest when she heard the telltale sound of a TARDIS materializing in her hospital room. Pete and Tony came running inside as they knew what that sound meant as well. Rose ran out of the TARDIS and hugged her mother with a guilty look on her face.

"I'm sorry. I would have come sooner, but I was being followed around by these aliens called the Silence. I didn't want to expose you to them. I should have come anyway though. Are you alright?" Rose asked as she began to cry.

"I'm fine. What's the matter with you, sweetheart?" Jackie asked with concern.

As soon as Rose ran over to hug Jackie so tightly that she almost suffocated, she knew that something was wrong with Rose. She could always tell when something was bothering her.

Shareen slipped out of the TARDIS followed by Mickey and Marina while the others stayed inside. They didn't feel as if they belonged there especially May who had only just met Rose.

Jackie stared at Marina for a moment and then she gasped in shock as she said, "Marina?"

"Hi, Gran! I decided to finally grow up so I did," Marina said with a mischievous grin on her face.

"How in the world did you do that?" Jackie asked in confusion since she still had no idea that Marina was a Time Lord or Arkytior's first born daughter in disguise.

"It's a long story. Rose will have to explain it to you later I think because I'm still not sure about some of the details. How are you doing, Jackie?" Shareen asked in concern.

"Yeah, are you sure you're going to be alright?" Mickey asked.

"I'm fine. What's wrong with Rose though? She's carrying on like I'm dying or something," Jackie said as Rose continued to hug her and wouldn't let go.

"She's upset because Mickey and I died recently. It's made her realize for the first time that she's going to outlive all of us," Shareen explained.

"What? You died?" Jackie asked in even more confusion.

"We got better though thanks to Rose," Mickey said with a grin.

"You people enjoy confusing me, don't you?" Jackie asked with a groan.

"Sometimes, yeah," Shareen admitted with a giggle.

Rose hadn't spoken or moved since she had first rushed over to hug Jackie, and Jackie became very concerned now. She started to hug Rose back, but she received no response from her.

"Rose, are you alright, honey?" Jackie finally asked.

Rose finally let go of her as she said with a fake smile on her face, "I'm fine. Everything's fine."

"No, it's not. Tell me about it," Jackie said.

"I'm sorry. I should have been here," Rose said as she struggled not to cry again.

"I'm okay," Jackie insisted.

"You're afraid of losing her, aren't you?" Pete asked as he spoke for the first time.

"Yes. I don't want to lose her or any of you. I don't want to lose anyone. You're all too important to me," Rose admitted finally.

"It's what human beings do, Rose. We're not almost immortal like Time Lords are," Pete said in a matter of fact tone.

"I know but it still hurts. I shouldn't dwell on it though I know. I'm sorry. I'll get over it. It just shocked me to see Mum here especially after what happened to Mickey and Shareen. Don't worry. I'm alright," Rose said as she regained her composure.

"Are you sure, Rose?" Tony asked in concern.

Rose smiled a reassuring grin at her little brother as she picked him up. She continued to smile at him with a genuine smile this time as she said, "Yeah, I'm sure. Don't worry about me. I just need to stop worrying about everyone that's all."

"Yeah, like that's ever going to happen. You always worry about all of us," Tony said.

"Isn't that the truth?" Shareen said with a laugh.

"I'll just have to stop doing that somehow. I'm going to be okay I promise," Rose said to Tony in a gentle tone.

As Rose continued to talk to her family, May stood alone in the Console Room watching her on the TARDIS monitor that Rose had left on by mistake. She knew that it wasn't her business, but she just wanted to know what kind of person that Rose was since she was going to be traveling with her. She found herself liking Rose a lot more as she watched her, and her heart went out to her over what had happened to her mother.

"You always had a big heart, Arkytior," May said to herself.

She realized what she had said and asked, "What am I talking about? Who's Arkytior? I meant to say that Rose had a big heart. Why did I say that name?"

The holographic Jackie popped up as if in response to May's question and said, "Arkytior is the original name of the current owner of this capsule. As for why you said it, I cannot answer that."

"Rose's real name is Arkytior?" May asked in surprise.

"Yes," the hologram said.

"How would I know that? How could I possibly know? I only just met her," May said in bewilderment.

"Well, it seems like you knew her before. Don't you think?" the Jackie hologram said.

"No, I never saw her before. Right? Sometimes she does look so familiar though. It's as if I met her before somewhere. That's not possible though I know," May said as if she was in a daze.

She pulled out the fob watch from her pocket again and looked at it. This time she heard a voice speaking to her.

"Rose is an old friend. You can trust her. She'll lead you to the Doctor. Then we'll finally be home again," the voice said.

"The Doctor? Who is the Doctor?" May asked as she put the watch back in her pocket without realizing that she had even been holding it.

"Yes, he is," the hologram replied.

"What?" May asked.

"I was answering your question about the Doctor," the hologram replied.

"Who?" May asked.

"Let's not start that again," the Jackie hologram said with a sigh.

"Start what?" May asked.

May's head suddenly started killing her, and she walked out of the Console Room. She realized that she wasn't feeling that well now so she decided to go to her room and lie down for a while. Gwyneth came into the Console Room shortly afterwards to find the hologram in a foul mood.

"She's hopeless. How am I ever going to make her remember who she is?" the hologram said.

"Good question. We'll get through to her eventually though. Don't worry about it. We'll get her home. What I'm worried about is how the Doctor and Rose will react when we do," Gwyneth said.

"I thought you already knew. You're supposed to know all about the future, right?" the hologram asked.

"Time's always in flux especially around Rose Tyler. That's the one thing that I learned from the Rose of the future is that she's totally unpredictable. She's one of only three people that I know who can totally change the future of the entire universe on a whim, and she usually does it with a smile while she sticks her tongue out in the face of destiny," Gwyneth said with a chuckle.

"That's one of the reasons why we love her, isn't it?" the Jackie hologram asked.

"That's true," Gwyneth said.

"Who are the other two people who can change the future?" the hologram asked.

"Clara and Oswin Oswald, the Impossible Girls," Gwyneth said as she left the room.

"That makes things make more sense then," the hologram said as she faded away.

At the same time as May went to sleep and started having strange dreams, Harriet Jones was on the phone with one of her old contacts in the government. She was astounded to hear about what they had to say about what was going on back home. If what they said was true, then she had to go back as soon as Rose was finished on Pete's World. She had a big decision to make.

Back on the other Earth, Lucy Saxon was receiving an unexpected visitor. She couldn't say that she was totally surprised by her arrival though.

A woman burst in through Lucy's office door while Lucy's secretary said, "You can't go in there!"

"Apparently I can, dear, because I just did!" the woman said with an evil grin.

"I'm sorry about this, Miss Cole," the secretary said.

"It's okay. Don't worry about it," Lucy said with a warm smile as the secretary closed the door.

"You have a nice place here, Blondie, but it's a little lax on the security. Not at all like your last residence. Then again your ex was a psychopath so I suppose he helped scare all of the other crazies out there away all by himself. I'm Sandra, by the way. Sandra Brian," the woman said.

"Nice name. I know who you are though, and by that I mean who you really are, Cassandra O'Brien. I'm not the smartest person in the world by any means, but I do employ a lot of people who are. They've equipped this office with all kinds of technology that I borrowed from a good friend at Torchwood including the ability to detect psychografts. I learned a thing or two from that psychopath you see," Lucy said with a grin.

"Well now that we all know who we are here let's get to the point, Mrs. Saxon. I don't know how you came back from the dead, and I don't care. I think it's just fabulous how you've helped the needy and the down and out. How marvelous for you. It helps them, and it lets you pretend that you're a good little girl for a while. Now though you're moving into my territory. I had this election for Prime Minister all sewn up until that pesky little election campaign for Harriet Jones started up. Now I hear that the poll numbers have changed overnight, and if she were running today that she would win by a landslide. Needless to say, I'm not amused by that, Blondie. Call off the ads, and dump your support of Harriet," Cassandra said.

"Or what?" Lucy asked with a defiant stare.

"Or they might find out who you really are for starters. You wouldn't want that, would you? All of that good work of yours would be undone overnight if that happened, wouldn't it?" Cassandra said with a malicious smile.

"Go ahead and tell them. They'll never believe you. I'm Lucy Saxon's cousin who just happens to look a lot like her. I have a birth certificate and all kinds of medical and dental records to prove it. Like I said, I have a lot of smart people working for me," Lucy said.

"I'm going to win this election, Mrs. Saxon, and no one's going to stop me. Not you and not that tired old woman," Cassandra said.

"What tired old woman are you referring to?" Harriet asked as she walked into the office along with Rose.

"No one you know I'm sure, Darling," Cassandra said with a grin.

"You're Edith Cole?" Harriet asked as she stared at Lucy in surprise with a look of recognition on her face.

"Yes," Lucy said.

Rose was looking at Lucy in shock as well. She knew someone once who looked just like her and had that same name a long time ago. She had met her back on Gallifrey when she was Arkytior.

"Harriet Jones, Former Prime Minister, and this is my good friend, Rose Tyler," Harriet said as she flashed her old ID badge at Lucy.

"Yes, I know who you are. It's so nice to meet both of you at last. I've heard many good things about each of you," Lucy said as she shook Harriet's hand.

"That's just it. We've never even met before, and you're asking people to convince me to run again for my old job. Why?" Harriet asked.

"Let's just say that I think that you're the best person for the job, and that you're infinitely better than the other candidate," Lucy said.

"That's your opinion, Blondie," Cassandra said.

"Meet the other candidate," Lucy said with a frown.

Rose stared at Cassandra as she wondered if she knew her. There was something very familiar about her. She couldn't quite place her face though. That was of course because she was using an entirely different face than any of the ones that Rose knew.

"Why don't you take a picture, Other Blondie?" Cassandra asked with no fear of Rose whatsoever.

"You've got an attitude on you, don't you?" Rose asked with an amused grin.

"I just like to stand up for myself that's all. Otherwise, I'd be smashed flatter than a trampoline," Cassandra said as she practically spelled it out for Rose.

Rose started to glow with Vortex energy now, and she realized at last with her enhanced senses just who Cassandra was. She groaned out loud in annoyance as soon as she saw it.

"Oh, come on! Why are you back again for? Why didn't you just stay in the Library? Didn't you have it good there?" Rose asked with a sigh.

"Arkytior?" Lucy said with a gasp. Arkytior was the only one she knew who had powers like that.

"I knew it. It's you. You're the one who I met before back on Gallifrey," Rose said with a smile.

"Alright, let's get it all out in the open now and get it over with before I die of boredom. She's Rose Tyler aka the Big Bad Wolf, I'm Cassandra, she's Harriet Jones, and she's Lucy Saxon alias Edith Cole. Can we please move on with the conversation now?" Cassandra said in an exasperated voice.

"So you are Lucy Saxon? I thought you looked a lot like her," Harriet said.

"Why didn't you say something?" Rose asked.

"Well, I didn't think that it would be very polite to walk up to someone and say 'Excuse me, but aren't you the wife of that former Prime Minister who almost destroyed the world?' Besides, she's supposed to be dead, isn't she?" Harriet said.

"So are you," Rose pointed out.

"True. Well, it just isn't done. It's just not polite," Harriet said.

Rose laughed at her and sighed.

"I swear that I'm not up to anything except trying to get Harriet back in office. I just want to do something good to make up for what I did. I wanted to make you proud of me. I had no idea that you and Arkytior were one and the same," Lucy said as she continued to stare at her in amazement.

"I believe you, Lucy. I'm so glad that you're trying to be a better person unlike some people," Rose said as she glared at Cassandra.

"I'm trying to better myself too, Rose. As in, I'll be much better off when I get all of the money and power that being a Prime Minister can bring me. It's not like I'm going to blow up the world or anything. I just want to be your standard corrupt politician and rip people off blind. What's so bad about that?" Cassandra said.

"If you're going to start going after corrupt politicians, you're going to be awfully busy from now on I'm afraid. Maybe we should just let Cassandra go, and let her lose the election fair and square," Harriet said.

"You mean?" Rose and Lucy both asked at the same time.

"Yes. I'm running for Prime Minister again; and I'm going to kick your backside, Miss O'Brien. Then we'll see who's old and tired," Harriet said with a grin.

"I very much look forward to it, Grandma. We'll see who's still standing when this is all over with," Cassandra warned.

"I'm afraid that I'm going to have to stop you right here and now. The election's over for you, Cassandra," Rose said as she gestured at Cassandra with a glowing hand.

Rose was shocked when nothing happened. She tried again and again, but she couldn't do anything to her with her powers.

"Surprise! I received something called a Vortex Shield from a new friend of mine. It protects me from the effects of your powers. There's nothing that you can do to me, Rose," Cassandra said smugly.

"That's where you're wrong, Cassandra," Rose said with a smug grin.

"How is that, darling?" Cassandra asked.

"Let me show you," Rose said.

She knocked Cassandra out with a solid punch to the jaw and grinned as she stuck her tongue out at her unconscious body on the floor.

"The election's over for you, darling!" Rose said in a mocking imitation of Cassandra's voice.

**Next: Rose tries to find out who's behind Cassandra's run for Prime Minister while Harriet gets ready to start her campaign. Meanwhile who is May Rutledge anyway? That's a question that will shock Rose when she finds out. Also Rose's preoccupation with the death of her friends causes her to do something that she will regret later to one of them. Will Rose lose that person's friendship forever over it? Also Lucy Saxon gets yet another unexpected visitor as a familiar face from her past finds out that she's still alive and decides to pay her a visit. Guess who?**


	77. Chapter 77

CHAPTER 77

I do not own Doctor Who or Superman and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews!**

"What are you going to do with her, Rose?" Harriet asked as she looked at the unconscious Cassandra.

"I'm handing her over to a friend of mine in Torchwood," Rose said absentmindedly as she studied the Vortex Shield that she had found on Cassandra's body.

"You mean Captain Jack Harkness?" Harriet asked.

"Yeah, that's right. I forgot that you know him. I'm going to let Jack have her. Maybe he can find a place to imprison her where she won't get away this time. It seems like the Library just didn't cut it, and I don't trust Shada anymore. The place has become a revolving door lately. First the Monk escaped and now the Valeyard. I think that I may see if Jack has another alternative to place people like Cassandra in," Rose said as she wondered where she had seen the Vortex Shield, which was in the form of an armband, before. It looked so familiar to her.

"What about the poor person whose body that she stole?" Harriet asked.

"I checked with my powers, and I can't find any trace of anyone but Cassandra in this woman's mind. She's gone, Harriet. Once Cassandra has her claws in you for too long, she completely destroys your own personality. It almost happened to me once upon a time," Rose said as she looked at the body in front of her sadly.

Lucy noticed the strange looking armband in Rose's hand and said, "I have some very smart people on my payroll if you'd like me to let them look at that."

"No I think I'll just keep it. I know it from somewhere. It looks Gallifreyan, but I'm not sure. Thank you for offering though," Rose said.

She sent the Vortex Shield into the pocket dimension that Time Lords used to store things inside of, and then she pulled her cell phone out of her jacket pocket to call Jack. After arranging for Jack to pick up Cassandra, she said, "I have to know who put Cassandra up to this. Why would anyone want Cassandra to run for Prime Minister?"

"Maybe they wanted her to do something for them? Isn't that usually the way it goes in politics? Someone gets in office with the help of powerful backers, and those backers demand favors from them once they get in there. Or was that just Harry?" Lucy said with a smile.

"I did no such thing although plenty of people tried to convince me to," Harriet said.

"I know," Rose said as she looked at Cassandra absentmindedly.

"Rose, is something bothering you? You don't seem to be entirely here today?" Harriet asked.

"I keep thinking about Shareen and Mickey dying and then my Mum getting sick. I don't want to outlive everyone I love," Rose said sadly.

"There's something that I've always wondered about since I found out about your powers, but I wasn't sure if it was my business to ask," Harriet said.

"Go ahead. Ask me anything," Rose said.

"You made Jack immortal, didn't you?" Harriet asked.

"I'm not even going to ask how you know about that, but the answer is yes. I did it by accident. I didn't mean to, and I can never undo it now. I made him into a fixed point in time which means that he can't die. He just keeps coming back because I made him into a universal fact. It still haunts me," Rose said with a haunted look on her face.

"Couldn't you do the same thing to your friends and family?" Harriet asked.

"Yes if I wanted to make them hate me for the rest of eternity. I'd be condemning them to the same kind of life that a Time Lord has where you watch everyone and everything around you fall apart and disappear while you just go on and on. I don't think that they'd thank me for that. I know that Jack resented it for a long time," Rose said.

"At my age, I wouldn't mind it so much not to be looking at my own mortality quite so closely. Or at least maybe getting a little younger anyway," Harriet said with a smile.

"You think that now, but if it were to actually happen you might feel differently. Anyway it still bothers me, but I have to get used to it. I can't go mucking about with the timestream just because I want to help my friends. Not anymore anyway," Rose said.

Harriet wondered exactly what Rose meant by that, but she didn't ask any more questions. She had learned a long time ago that she didn't want to know too much about the secrets of the Time Lords. It was better that way.

Finally Cassandra woke up, and Rose smiled at her with glowing eyes as she said, "Who's behind your run for office, Cassandra? You're going away for a while so you might as well come clean now. I'll see if they'll go easier on you where you're going if you do."

"I honestly can't tell you, Blondie. It's someone whose face that I've never seen. I have no idea who they are. They helped me get the backing that I needed to run for office and pulled the political strings for me behind the scenes. I didn't ask too many questions to be honest. I was getting a new life and a fresh start so why bother?" Cassandra asked.

"They might have been setting you up for a fall, Cassandra, that's why," Rose said with a sigh.

"I don't think so. I got the feeling that they were using me to further their own agenda. I have no idea what that is though. All I know is that they seemed to know a lot about you, and they even gave me that armband to protect me from you in case you came sniffing about. Of course, I could have told them that would probably happen. You're always sticking your nose in where it doesn't belong," Cassandra said.

"That's Rosie. She just doesn't know when to stop once she catches the scent of something wrong around her," Jack Harkness said as he came into the office.

"If everyone doesn't quit making me sound like a dog, I'm going to have to slap someone," Rose said with a smile.

"I'm sorry, Miss Cole. I know I should have stopped him and made him go away, but I didn't want to," Lucy's secretary said with a big grin on her face.

"That's okay. He's supposed to be here," Lucy said.

"Good!" the secretary said as she kept staring at Jack.

"I'm taken, Miss," Jack said with an uncomfortable look on his face.

The old Jack Harkness would have jumped at the chance to flirt with her, but the new and improved one loved Penny too much to do that to her. Plus she had a wicked right cross that she would subject him to if she ever found out!

"That's a shame," the secretary said as she kept staring at him.

Rose laughed as she said, "There's Cassandra for you, Jack. Do you have a good place to hold her? Someplace where she can't hop minds maybe?"

"I've got just the place. She can be the first one in Torchwood's new prison section. It'll be for violent and dangerous people and aliens that we can't trust to anyone else. Don't you feel privileged to be the first person there?" Jack asked Cassandra.

"Stuff it, Handsome!" Cassandra said indignantly.

As Jack started to take Cassandra away, he looked at Lucy for a brief moment and nodded at her. She nodded back at him without speaking and with a guilty look on her face.

"What was that about? I didn't know that he even knew that you were still alive," Rose asked after Jack left.

"Neither did I," Harriet said intrigued.

"He's known that I've been back for some time now. We've reached our own peace with each other about what happened onboard the Valiant although I still feel guilty about it every time that I look at him. I hope that I made up for it in some way by helping him get Torchwood rebuilt," Lucy said.

"That was you?" Rose asked.

"Yes, it was the least I could do after what Harry did to him," Lucy admitted.

She looked so sad and lost that Rose couldn't help but say, "If you wanted me to be proud of you, then I'd have to say mission accomplished, Lucy."

Lucy's face brightened, and she lit up the room with her smile as she said, "Thank you! It was you who inspired me to do it. I've dedicated Bad Wolf, Inc. to doing things that I knew that you would approve of."

"You named it after me?" Rose asked touched.

"What?" Lucy asked in surprise.

"That's one of my names. I'm the Bad Wolf. I thought you knew that," Rose explained.

"No. I only knew you as Arkytior. You never mentioned that name to me or any other one. That name just kind of popped into my head. I didn't even know that you were this Rose Tyler that Harry was always so interested in until today," Lucy said.

"He was interested in Rose?" Harriet asked.

"Oh, yes. He was always trying to find out things about her. He was almost obsessed with her for some reason. I always wondered if maybe you were an old flame of his. Then again I didn't think that was so because he also mentioned someone else named the Rani that I know was an old flame. He had a different look on his face when he thought of her then he did whenever he talked about Rose. The look on his face whenever he talked about Rose was almost one of reverence," Lucy said.

"Why is that? Who is he to you?" Harriet asked Rose out of curiosity.

As both Harriet and Lucy looked at her eagerly for an answer to that question, Rose said, "He's my brother."

Both of them gasped in shock. Harriet looked doubtful as if she didn't believe it while Lucy looked afraid and began to unconsciously back away from Rose.

"I won't tell him you're here if that's what you're worried about. He's changed since then anyway so he wouldn't hurt you even if he did know," Rose said.

Lucy looked at her with absolute terror on her face as Rose said with a warm smile, "I would never let anything happen to you, Lucy. I promise."

Lucy nodded but continued to look terrified. She trusted Rose but not Harry. Not for a second. She had been through too much with him and suffered too much at his hands to ever trust him again.

"All I can say is that the two of you are nothing alike," Harriet said as Lucy quietly agreed with her.

"He's changed since he was Harold Saxon. He's not the same man anymore," Rose said as she defended him.

"I should hope not," Harriet said.

"Rose, something's wrong with May. You need to come and talk to her," Shareen said as she raced into the office.

"I guess I have to go now. There's always a crisis it seems. Are you coming Harriet?" Rose asked.

"No, I think I'll stay here and have a talk with my new campaign manager," Harriet said as she looked at Lucy with a grin.

"Campaign manager?" Lucy asked.

"Yes. I think that you'll make a great one. I mean you convinced me to run again and the rest of the public to vote for me. You're already halfway there," Harriet said.

"Thank you. I won't let you down," Lucy said enthusiastically.

"I'll see you two later then," Rose said as she left with Shareen.

"Miss Tessmacher, are you even screening the walk-in traffic at all out there? What if Rose's friend had been here to kill me?" Lucy asked in a half-hearted manner as she smiled at Harriet.

"What? Someone was here?" Miss Tessmacher said.

"Yes, someone was here. Didn't you notice?" Lucy asked with a sigh.

"I'm so sorry, Miss Cole. It won't happen again. I was lost in a daydream," Miss Tessmacher said.

"A daydream?" Lucy asked in disbelief.

"Yeah, I was dreaming of that Captain that was just here. His wife had a terrible accident, and I was there to console him," Miss Tessmacher said with a huge smile on her face.

Lucy groaned while Harriet laughed.

Rose returned with Shareen to her TARDIS to find May in the Console Room with her head in her hands. She was moaning loudly as if she was in pain.

"May? What's wrong?" Rose asked.

"I'm not May. Why are all of you calling me that? My name's Clara Oswald. No, it's Cydonia. I'm still Clara though. Wait. How can that be? I'm both. How can I be both?" May said as she began to moan in pain again.

"This is why I came to get you. She's talking crazy," Shareen said.

"Isn't Clara your friend? Why does she think she's her?" Mickey asked.

"That's because she is her I think," Marina said.

"How could that be? She looks nothing like her, and Clara is with the Doctor," Shareen asked.

"Clara was splintered in time and space and became many different people. One of them was named Cydonia. She was a Time Lord," Rose said as she began to look through May's pockets.

"What are you doing?" Shareen asked.

"Looking for a fob watch," Rose said.

"You mean she's a hidden Time Lord?" Shareen asked in surprise.

"Yes. Here's the proof," Rose said as she pulled out May's fob watch.

May grabbed Rose's arm with a snarl of rage as she said, "That's mine!"

"Yes, I know it is. I'm not taking it. I just wanted to be sure of who you were. Here it is, Cydonia," Rose said as she gave it back to her.

May grabbed it back like a feral animal and grasped it tightly. Then she looked at Rose with confusion as she said, "What's happening to me?"

"You're my friend Cydonia. You remember that, don't you?" Rose said.

"I'm not Cydonia. I'm May Rutledge," May insisted.

"I'm sorry but May Rutledge isn't real. You're really an old friend of mine named Cydonia who was really a part of another friend of mine named Clara," Rose said in a gentle voice.

May looked at her as though she had lost her mind as she said, "That doesn't make any sense."

"It's complicated. It's the truth though. I'm sorry, May. I know how hard it is to accept that you're not who you think you are. I've gone through it myself," Rose said with sympathy.

May looked at her with soul-churning anguish for a moment as she said, "I'm May Rutledge! I thought you were my friend. Why are you doing this?"

"I'm not doing anything. You were remembering all on your own. I had nothing to do with it," Rose insisted.

"You did something to me. You've missed with my mind with your alien powers," May said.

Rose tried not to laugh as she said, "No, I didn't. It's the watch, May. The real you is stored in that watch, and it's telling you who you really are."

"What watch?" May asked.

"The one that you're holding in your hand," Mickey said as he pointed to it.

May looked at it and then looked away as if it wasn't there. She looked back at Mickey with a confused look on her face as she said, "It doesn't work. It's broken."

"It works perfectly. It just isn't for keeping time," Rose said.

"Leave me alone!" May screamed as she ran from the room.

Marina stopped her by standing in her way as she said, "Cydonia, it's me. Do you remember me? You helped me when I was lost, and now I'm going to return the favor by helping you."

May looked at Marina for a moment and said, "Cassiopeia?"

"Yes, sweetie! You do remember, don't you? You're Cydonia," Marina said as she embraced the shaking May.

"No. That's not me. I'm not an alien. I'm human. My name's Clara," May said.

Then she held her head in her hands as she said, "No, that's wrong. I'm May."

"I'm sorry. I know how hard this is on you. I was in your shoes once when I thought that I was human. You've got it even worse though because you've had two different lives before this one," Rose said as she came up behind her and put her hand on her shoulder.

"Just leave me alone," May cried out in a voice filled with pain as she went past Marina and went to her room.

"Is she going to be okay?" Marina asked.

"Yeah, she'll be alright. It'll just take a little while to get used to the idea that she's someone else. Don't worry about her," Rose said in a gentle voice.

"I can't believe that she's still alive. I'm just so glad to have her back. She really helped me, Mum. I met her right after I came out of jumping into Dad's timeline, and I was ready to regenerate after being shot by a Dalek. I was so scared because it was my first time regenerating, and she was there for me when I needed someone. I want to be there for her now," Marina said.

"She'll be okay. We'll both make sure of it together," Rose said as she embraced her daughter.

After the grueling events of the day, Rose tried to lie down and sleep after sending the TARDIS into the Vortex. She didn't really need that much sleep after becoming a Time Lord again, but her mind was still used to a regular sleeping schedule after doing it for so long as Rose Tyler. It was a case of old habits dying hard she supposed.

Only this time her mind wouldn't allow her to rest after all of the stress that she had been through lately. It all weighed heavily on her mind. She was worried about May who was so violently rejecting the truth about herself. She wondered who could possibly be behind Cassandra and where she had seen the Vortex Shield before. She also wondered if her future self was trying to send her a message by putting the name Bad Wolf in Lucy's company's name.

Then after grappling with and successfully knocking all of these other thoughts out of her mind, she came to the one thing that was bothering her more than anything else. She kept picturing Shareen and Mickey dying and her mother in the hospital. She couldn't stop thinking about those two things no matter how hard she tried.

She finally drifted off to sleep sometime during the night and began to dream. Her dreams quickly became nightmares though. She was soon dreaming about Shareen and Mickey dying again and again as she relived that horrible moment a hundred times over. She tossed and she turned in her bed in agony as she began to scream.

That was when the fateful moment happened. Shareen heard Rose's screams and entered her room to find her in the middle of a nightmare.

"Rose, wake up. You're just dreaming. Wake up," Shareen said as she shook Rose.

In Rose's dream, Shareen had been telling her to save her as she was about to die again. Shareen succeeded in waking her up, but in her half-asleep state Rose thought that she was still in the dream.

"I won't let them kill you!" Rose screamed as her eyes turned golden.

"Rose, what are you talking about?" Shareen asked.

Rose placed a glowing hand on Shareen's shoulder then, and Shareen could feel a burning sensation make its way through her entire body as she felt herself change inside and out. Rose was doing something to her, and she had no idea what.

"Rose, stop it! Stop it! What are you doing to me?!" Shareen screamed in fear.

Rose blinked and she shook her head as she became fully awake now. Then she looked at Shareen in horror as she realized what she had done to her at last. She began to weep uncontrollably and embraced Shareen tightly as she asked her to forgive her over and over again.

"What did you do? I don't feel any different. What did you do?" Shareen asked.

Rose looked at her through tear-filled eyes as she said, "I made you immortal, Shareen. You can't die now. I'm so sorry! I didn't realize what I was doing. I'm so sorry!"

"What?" Shareen said.

The impact of Rose's words still hadn't fully registered on her yet. She was having a hard time believing them. She wondered if she was the one having the nightmare now and was still asleep.

"I didn't mean to do it. I really didn't. I was having a nightmare where you were about to die, and I was trying to save you when you woke me up. I was confused, and I didn't realize what I was doing. I didn't do it on purpose," Rose pleaded with her.

"You made me like Jack?" Shareen asked as she finally understood now.

"I'm sorry!" Rose said in despair.

Shareen slapped her in the face as hard as she could as she screamed, "Undo it!"

"I can't. I'm sorry. I can't," Rose said in tears.

"Take me home, and then never speak to me again!" Shareen screamed as she ran out of Rose's room in tears.

"I'm sorry," Rose said softly with anguished sobs.

Back on Earth, Lucy was about to have a shock of her own as she was in her office alone still working late into the night. Her secretary had already gone home where she was no doubt dreaming about Jack even now.

That was when she heard the front door to the office open, and she suddenly stopped moving and held her breath in fear. She knew before looking who it was. She could sense his presence anywhere.

"Hello, Lucy," Koschei said.

Lucy grabbed a gun from inside of her desk and pointed it at Koschei as she said, "Stay away from me!"

"I'm not here to hurt you, Lucy. I just wanted to see how you were doing. No, that's not exactly true. I came here to tell you that I'm sorry. I'm sorry for what I did to you, and I'm so glad that I didn't completely ruin your life," Koschei said.

"How did you know that I was here? Did Rose tell you? I thought she was my friend," Lucy said.

"She didn't tell me anything. I didn't even know that she knew. I found out about you through some special surveillance devices that I put in Torchwood just to make sure that everything was on the up and up there. Cassandra mentioned you inside of her new cell while talking to the Captain. Don't worry. I'm not going to bother you. I just wanted to see if you were alright and apologize. I'll leave now," Koschei said as he began to slowly move back towards the door with his hands up.

Lucy could see the pain on Koschei's face and realized that he had really meant what he said. She always knew when he was lying or not after having been around him for so long.

"I forgive you," Lucy said.

"What?" Koschei asked in surprise.

I can't forget what you did, but I need to forgive you and move on for my own sake. I'm starting a new life now, and I don't want to let the old one hold me back in any way," Lucy explained.

"I don't really deserve your forgiveness, but if it helps you in any way I'll take it," Koschei said.

"You can go on now. I won't shoot you," Lucy said as she lowered the gun.

"Thank you. I'll just leave. Don't worry. I won't bother you again," Koschei said in an attempt to reassure her.

"Do you have someone?" Lucy asked.

"Yes, I found the Rani again. Well, she's not calling herself that now, but you remember me talking about her, don't you?"

"Yes, I remember. Are you happy?" Lucy asked.

"Yes. Very happy. Are you?" Koschei asked with concern.

"I'm getting there. I'm trying to make up for the past. I've been helping people. That helps some. I haven't really found anyone for myself yet though," Lucy admitted.

"I hope you do. You deserve someone who will treat you right. Someone a lot better than I was to you," Koschei said.

"Thank you," Lucy said.

There was an uncomfortable silence then, and Koschei turned to go yet again as he said, "I'll just leave now."

Lucy let out a deep breath and called out to him before he left, "Harry, I was pregnant."

"What?" Koschei asked.

"I was pregnant with your child. I found out after I shot you." Lucy said.

"What?" Koschei asked again.

"You have a son, Harry," Lucy said.

"What?!" Koschei screamed.

**Next: A lot is going on here next time. Rose and Shareen have a major falling out where she reveals a secret about Shareen that she has never told anyone in order to get her to stay. May finally confronts the truth about herself and comes to a decision on what to do about it. Koschei finds out more about the son that he never knew. Oh, and someone breaks Cassandra out of Torchwood. I wonder who?**


End file.
